A Mesa man has been arrested and charged with shooting and killing the father of his grandson over the weekend.
According to a probable cause statement, officers responded around 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 12, to an apartment complex near Alma School Road and University Drive after a report of a shooting.
Police found 18-year-old Mark Russell Jr. with several gunshot wounds inside one of the apartments. While on the scene, police said Larry Gentry admitted to shooting the man.
After being told his Miranda rights at the police station, officers said Gentry told them he shot Russell, who was his daughter's boyfriend, because of recent 'suspicious' injuries his wife had observed on the couple's 5-month-old boy.
Police said the shooting started out as an argument between Gentry's daughter and Russell over the child's injuries. Gentry told Russell to leave the area after he saw him push his daughter around.
Russell entered the apartment and started yelling at Gentry, police said. Gentry grabbed his wife's 9mm handgun and pointed it at Russell, telling him to leave. Gentry told police Russell continued walking toward Gentry, when he shot him two of three times.
However, police said Gentry's wife told them she fought to keep her gun away from him, and another witness said there was no reason Gentry should have felt threatened.
Investigators searched the apartment and found a 9mm handgun and 10 shell casings, far more than the number of times Gentry said he pulled the trigger.
Gentry, 43, was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree murder.
Court records show a judge set his bond at $750,000.
