Philadelphia man murdered his stepfather because there was a gay guest in their ‘House of God’
(The AEGIS Alliance) – A male suspect in Philadelphia purportedly murdered his stepfather because there was a gay guest in their house, according to prosecutors.
Christian A. Smith is facing a first-degree murder charge due to the deadly shooting of age 43 Dennis McKenzie in their New Jersey residence earlier in October.
23-year-old Smith had been briefly living with his mom as well as Mr. McKenzie in their Woolwich Township residence. On October 9, it’s alleged that Smith was strongly against the sexual preference of a visitor that had come into their house during a party.
“He made it known to his stepfather that he did not approve of that person coming into their house,” Dana Anton, an assistant prosecutor pointed out, NJ.com reported. He additionally claimed that “their house was a house of God.”
The conversation turned heated and at some point became deadly.
“The stepfather took a swing at Mr. Smith and, I believe, maybe superficially hit him,” the prosecutor stated, keeping in mind that Mr. Smith had not been hurt.
“In response to that, Mr. Smith took out a Glock 19 that was in his waistband and shot him three times.” The victim was struck two times, one gunshot landed in the head, and one hit the body, then he died on the scene.
The suspect’s mom and a sibling saw the shooting happen, Anton said.
“This argument that preceded the murder, it started over an act of bias and an act of bias intimidation where he is using a slur about somebody’s sexual orientation,” the prosecutor pointed out.
Public defender of Smith, Katherine Constantine Blinn, claimed that her client says the gunshots were unintentional, and forensic evidence is required to clear up what occurred.
Dana Anton took note that “he took the gun out from behind him, reached over her and fired three times,” challenging Binn’s disagreement. “You can’t accidentally shoot somebody three times,” she pointed out.
Christian A. Smith is expected to appear in court on December 2 for his pre-indictment hearing.
Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
