Inset: Joey Skaggs (St. Francois County Sheriff's Office). Background: Lake Hanna Properties in Ironton, Mo. (Google Maps).
A Missouri man has been accused of fatally shooting his mother in an attack she allegedly never saw coming.
Joey Skaggs, 54, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action after police said he killed his 72-year-old mother. In a press release, the St. Francois County Sheriff's Office said deputies responded to a home in the Lake Hanna Development in Ironton, Missouri, on Saturday at 5:23 p.m. When they arrived, they found the woman with "head trauma" that was determined to be a gunshot wound. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Skaggs, the woman's son, was seen walking down a highway near the development, police said. He lived in a different building there.
According to a probable cause statement obtained by local Fox affiliate KTVI, police said Skaggs was collecting scrap metal with his stepfather on the Lake Hanna Development property before the shooting. Investigators said that around 3 p.m., Skaggs went to the home where his mother and stepfather lived and retrieved a .22-caliber rifle from the kitchen.
Skaggs reportedly told police that he could see his mother from the kitchen. She was sitting in a recliner in the living room while playing video games on her laptop. According to the statement, Skaggs said he stood 3 or 4 feet behind his mother before he shot her in the head with the rifle. He then allegedly fled on foot. Police later recovered the rifle and a shell casing.
Police did not provide details about a possible motive.
Skaggs was arrested without incident and booked into the St. Francois County Adult Detention Center, where he is being held without bond. His first court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.