Inset: John Thomas Powell, 20, being taken into custody. Background: California police at the residence where John Thomas Powell allegedly stabbed his father to death (KTVU/YouTube).
A 20-year-old California man claims he rushed to his mother's defense during a fight she was having with his father, grabbing an "edged weapon" in the process and fatally stabbing his dad with it, cops say.
John Thomas Powell is being held on suspicion of murder following the deadly weekend confrontation at the family's Castro Valley home.
Footage captured at the scene by local Fox affiliate KTVU shows Powell being taken into custody on Saturday, Sept. 5, in the afternoon while his 51-year-old father was wheeled out on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital, where he died.
"It's tragic, you know? He lost his life," neighbor Nora Patterson told KTVU. "And the poor guy [Powell] was only 20 years old, and he was trying to protect his mom, supposedly."
Patterson said she saw Powell's mother being taken outside the home and that she looked "shaken up," KTVU reports. "She's between a rock and a hard place right now, I'm sure," Patterson said.
Another neighbor, Raquel Torres Casillas, told KTVU, "We just feel bad because, you know, it was a family issue. It's sad because it's a family, you know, breaking up."
The circumstances that led to the "physical altercation" between Powell's parents have not been publicly released, with cops also describing it as a "family disturbance."
Police say that Powell told investigators he heard his mother in distress before grabbing an "edged weapon" and plunging it into his father. The fight occurred around 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Neighbors say the family lived at the Castro Valley residence for about a year.
Powell is being held without bail.