25-year-old is charged in dad’s shooting death
Police say father was killed ‘execution-style’ during an argument
A 25-year-old man turned himself in Friday, two days after police said he fatally shot his father on Christmas Eve during an argument at his southeast Houston apartment in front of his common-law wife and two children.
Christopher James White was charged Friday with murder after prosecutors said he allegedly shot his father in the head with a pistol following an argument over his alleged abuse of his wife, according to a charging document filed in Harris County’s 179th District Court.
In an email to the Chronicle sent before he turned himself in, White said he “only acted out of self-defense” when his father pointed the gun in his direction multiple times while his kids stood behind him. “(I) love my daddy ,” he wrote, “he is all i have i never wanted none of this... my son is 1 years old his first christmas everything is all messed up... I have been having so many emotions.”
The slaying took place around 11:25 a.m. on Christmas Eve in the 8900 block of Glencrest, where the father, the son and the son’s wife and two children all lived. According to prosecutors, the argument began after James White threatened his son “because he did not like the way (he) was talking” to his wife. When she threatened to call police, Christopher White pulled out a knife, and his father went to his bedroom to retrieve his gun, they said.
That’s when things escalated, and Christopher White is said to have charged his father in a fight over the firearm while his wife “was screaming for them to stop.”
According to court documents, James White was on his
knees while his son was standing over him. Christopher White is said to have killed his father “execution-style” when he allegedly fired a shot that struck his father in the head, prosecutors said. He later fled after his wife said she would call the police, they said. His father was taken to an area hospital where he died on Christmas Day, according to Houston police.
Houston Police Homicide Detective W. Huff said suspects such as Christopher White often turn themselves in after they’ve had time to reflect on their actions. He discounted the man’s claim, however, stating that the son had a criminal history against both his father, whom he is convicted of stabbing in 2012, and his wife, whom he is alleged to have assaulted earlier this year.
Christopher White was sentenced to two years of probation in 2013 after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge for stabbing his father four times with a pocket knife, according to court documents. But he violated the terms of his probation when his urine sample tested positive for marijuana and when he failed to participate in court-ordered treatment programs, records show. He later pleaded guilty on the same case to a misdemeanor charge and served 150 days in county jail.
He is in jail on a $250,000 bond for the murder charge.
In May, he was charged with assault for allegedly punching his wife and telling her, “You going to die today,” and in June, prosecutors charged him again with assault after he allegedly strangled her.
Those cases are active and still pending in Harris County.
“Domestic violence is a driver of our murder in Harris County,” said Michael Kolenc, a Harris County District Attorney’s Office spokesman.
In another case on Christmas Eve involving domestic violence, a woman was gunned down at her own birthday party by a man officials said was her ex-boyfriend. He was charged with murder and remains at large.