Inset: Markus Xavier Benavidez (Corpus Christi Police Department). Background: The suburban home where Benavidez allegedly shot and killed his father in Corpus Christi, Texas (Google Maps).
A Texas man is behind bars after shooting and killing his own father inside the family's home earlier this week, according to law enforcement in the Lone Star State.
Markus Xavier Benavidez, 20, stands accused of one count of murder over the death of 47-year-old Markus Benavidez.
The underlying incident occurred late on the night of July 13, at a residence on Greenwich Drive in Corpus Christi.
At around 11:30 p.m. that night, a woman called 911 and said her son had shot her husband in the head, according to an affidavit obtained by local ABC affiliate KIII and NBC affiliate KRIS.
Officers with the Corpus Christi Police Department say they arrived to find the defendant standing outside the residence between the garage and a white SUV. The man was then held at gunpoint until additional officers arrived, and he was eventually taken into custody, police said.
Inside the house, police found the victim lying on a bed with a pool of blood under his head, according to the affidavit. An officer checked the wounded man for a pulse, but the man's heart was no longer beating. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
Police read the younger Benavidez his Miranda rights just before midnight, according to the affidavit. During an attempted custodial interview, the defendant initially refused to answer questions and requesting an attorney, law enforcement said.
But then, as officers transferred the accused son to a patrol car and moved to close the door, he allegedly said: "I did what I did."
The victim's wife told police her son had recently been hospitalized for several days and had been experiencing hallucinations along with other drug withdrawal symptoms, according to the affidavit. The woman went on to say that she called a crisis hotline roughly one hour before the violence because her son said he was not feeling well.
While her husband retired for the night, the mother stayed up with her son, according to police. She told investigators she saw him nodding and looking to the ceiling as if someone were speaking to him.
As the night wore on, her son exhibited increasingly erratic behavior, the woman told police. At one point, while the elder Benavidez was asleep, the defendant grabbed a handgun from a nightstand and fired a round, according to the affidavit. The woman said she tried to intervene after hearing the first shot but then heard multiple shots ring out amid a struggle, and by then it was too late.
Investigators at the scene collected a firearm and a bullet from the bedroom, according to the charging document. The defendant was also tested for gunshot residue, police said.
The investigation is said to be ongoing.
The defendant is being detained in the Nueces County Jail on no bond.