A Florida man allegedly shot and killed his father because he “had been on his case” about getting a job and paying his own rent, according to deputies.
Investigators say 25-year-old Melquan Stewart has been charged with murder following the Monday incident in Port Charlotte, about 95 miles south of Tampa.
According to an affidavit of probable cause reviewed by Law&Crime, Stewart was at home when his father, Glenn Stewart, arrived and asked him to show paperwork proving he was working on his military documentation. The document said the father had been pressuring Stewart to find a job and begin paying his own rent, which the victim had been covering for four months.
Glenn Stewart sat in the driver’s seat of his Volkswagen Taos SUV while his son walked to the rear passenger side to put down his bag. Melquan Stewart then claimed he heard voices in his head telling him to shoot his father. He told authorities he had heard these voices before but admitted this was the first time he acted on them.
Investigators said he began firing into the SUV through the rolled-down front passenger window with his Ruger LC9 handgun, shooting his father six times. As the victim tried to reverse the vehicle to escape, Stewart ran to the car, pulled his father out, placed him on the driveway, shot him a seventh time, folded his arms across his chest, and told him he loved him.
Authorities said Stewart then got into the SUV and set the GPS for Miami, but he changed his mind and returned to the scene. Meanwhile, multiple 911 callers had reported someone pulling a person from a vehicle, hearing gunshots, and seeing someone bleeding in a driveway. First responders took Glenn Stewart to a nearby hospital, where he later died.
Deputies said that when Melquan Stewart approached them, he had visible blood on him and said he was there to turn himself in. He also mentioned the voices in his head. Officers detained him and found blood both inside and outside the SUV, as well as a semiautomatic handgun in plain view on the front passenger floorboard.
Stewart appeared in court on Monday and is scheduled for another hearing on Thursday. He remains held without bond.
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