Teen Fatally Shoots Stepfather, Claims He Was Protecting Family: Sheriff

A sheriff in Ohio said there is "no reason to believe" that a shooting involving an 18-year-old who allegedly killed his stepfather "would be anything other than a domestic situation that ended in a homicide."

Logan County Sheriff Randall Dodds added in an interview with WHIO that it's possible the shooting "could be justified."

"I don't know that now....We were comfortable with the fact we didn't have a killer on the loose out there. There was no reason to believe anything else than a domestic incident. There wasn't any evidence...we thought we could make an arrest or take him into custody," Dodds said.

The sheriff's office posted the story from WHIO on its Facebook page on Thursday.

Dodds said that the stepson called deputies at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday regarding a domestic assault, claiming that his stepfather, Lee Brokaw, said it was his and sister's time to die, WHIO reported.

"He walked in and pointed the gun at me and my sister and he told us both to get on our knees," the stepson told the 911 operator, according to WHIO. "He pointed the gun at our heads and then my mom came up behind him and tried to wrestle him—he threw the gun on the ground.

"I had to stop him. I had to protect my family," the stepson added.

The stepson was not arrested following the incident, and Dodds said he doesn't expect that a grand jury will return an indictment in the case.

Newsweek reached out to the Logan County Sheriff's Office for comment.

In a separate incident this week, a man in Texas shot and killed his 24-year-old son to stop him from shooting his mother, according to sheriff's deputies. The son reportedly attempted to assault his mother with a liquor bottle, and the 75-year-old father tried to break up the fight when his son charged him, according to deputies.

Also this week, a father in Florida was accused of shooting his young children after his mother kissed them goodnight. "This is not only a case that is tragic, but also extremely disturbing," Sheriff Chad Chronister told the media.

In July, the Harris County Sheriff's Department in Texas said a father shot two teenagers who were attempting to break into his car while his two infant children were in car seats inside.