Grain Valley man charged with murder after he allegedly killed his father over argument
A man was charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed his father during an argument on Christmas Day in Grain Valley.
Franklin Eason, who was born in 2000, was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action for allegedly fatally shooting his father, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Officers responded around 7:07 p.m. to a home in the 700 block of Southwest Woodland Circle, where they found a man who had been shot and killed lying face down in the dining room, according to a probable cause statement.
After sweeping the home, officers said they found two semi-automatic handguns — one in the kitchen sink and another on the counter.
When an officer encountered Eason, he allegedly admitted without prompting to shooting his father and was taken into custody.
Detectives learned that one of the witnesses was a friend of Eason who had lived at the home for about a year. A few days prior to the shooting, Eason’s friend told the victim that he planned to move out, according to the probable cause statement.
On Christmas Day, the witness told detectives he, Eason, the victim and another witness, who had been dating the victim and also lived at the home with her three children, were sitting at the kitchen table.
Eason’s friend told detectives the victim suddenly became angry over his plan to move out. He shouted at Eason and the witness, grabbed a handgun from another room and started waving it around, the probable cause statement says.
Then, the victim laid the gun on the table, and Eason allegedly picked it up and shot the victim two or three times. When the gun jammed, both witnesses went to check on the children.
Eason allegedly entered and told them he shot his father to keep him from shooting anyone else in the home. He also allegedly called two others around 5:20 p.m. and told them he had shot his father.
When interviewed by detectives, Eason said his father had been upset because his friend was moving out and asked Eason to “beat” him up, but Eason refused, according to the probable cause statement.
Eason allegedly told detectives that he picked up the handgun his father had been waving around and shot him twice. The victim fell to the floor, and the witnesses left the kitchen, Eason allegedly told detectives.
Since the gun had jammed and his father was making “gurgling noises,” Eason allegedly told detectives that he found a second handgun in another part of the home and fired a third shot at his father to stop him from suffering, according to the probable cause statement.
He then placed the gun on the kitchen counter and called two people who lived over an hour away in Kansas and waited until they arrived to call the police, according to the probable cause statement.
Eason is being held on a $100,000 bond.
