Katy-area man charged in dad’s fatal shooting

A Katy-area man faces a manslaughter charge in the fatal shooting of his father over the weekend, authorities said.

Deputies arrested Thomas Meisenheimer, 34, after his mother on Saturday evening phoned police from their home to report that her husband had been shot by their son, according to the Fort Bend County Sheriff ’s Office.

A deputy arrived around 8:20 p.m. at the house in the 6200 block of Townsgate Circle and found the son in a room with his father, 68-year-old Walter Meisenheimer, who had been shot in the neck, the sheriff ’s office said in a news release. The son had been handling a .38-caliber handgun when the shot was fired, authorities said.

Community EMS transported the elder Meisenheimer a short distance from his home to Sue Creech Elementary School, where he was taken by Life Flight to Memorial Hermann Hospital-The Texas Medical Center. He died from the gunshot wound, the news release said.

The son was arrested and booked at 2:26 a.m. Sunday into the Fort Bend County jail on a charge of manslaughter, the news release said. He was being held Monday on $15,000 bail.

Neighbors on Monday evening at the end of the cul-de-sac near the Meisenheimer’s two-story brick home described being heartbroken that “Wally” was gone. He was like a jack-of-all-trades, they said, willing to help with a painting project or install a fireplace mantel or dig up a tree stump.

They recalled his thoughtfulness and his infectious laugh.

But they also remembered hearing family feuds, which is why on Saturday night it did not at first seem strange when they heard the mother screaming on the phone with 911.

Only when she began to sound hysterical did they realize something had happened between father and son.

They knew the family, like many on the block, owned guns. “Proud to be an American,” reads a sticker in a window by the house’s front door, now also adorned with a note for “Mr. Wally” and a bouquet of flowers.

Last year, the younger Meisenheimer was charged with driving while intoxicated for the third time. He previously had been convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2008 in Fort Bend County and in 2011 in Walker County, according to court records. (Also, in 2003, Meisenheimer was convicted of reckless driving and sentenced to 10 days in the county jail.)

Meisenheimer pleaded not guilty in last year’s case. He posted $10,000 bail and agreed to random alcohol and drug testing, plus the installation of a breath analysis device in his car, and he was due in court on Aug. 25 for a hearing. His attorney in that case did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.

Bob Haenel, a spokesman for the sheriff ’s office, said he did not know if alcohol was a factor in Saturday’s incident.

Whether either Meisenheimer had a concealed handgun license was confidential information, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson wrote in an email.

In 2015, there were 105 convictions of people who were at least 21 years old in the state for manslaughter, according to DPS data. None of those convicted were handgun license holders.