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MURRAY — A Murray man was charged Tuesday with shooting his adult stepson in the chest following an argument.
Christopher Thomas Perschon, 45, is charged in 3rd District Court with discharge of a firearm causing serious injury, a second-degree felony; three counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, one second-degree felony and two third-degree felonies; and intoxication, a class C misdemeanor.
On July 16, a man was celebrating his birthday at a bar with several people, including his stepfather, Perschon. At the bar, Perschon got into an argument with a friend and "was swinging his gun around," according to charging documents.
The group then went back to the home where Perschon and the stepson live, but Perschon was "belligerent and causing a disturbance" while "walking around with the firearm on (his) hip," the charges state.
The argument with the friend continued and Perschon "pulled his gun out and loaded a round in the chamber" and "was going to attempt to shoot his friend while he was in his car," the charges say. The friend drove away without incident and the stepson told Perschon to unload his gun.
"Perschon unloaded the gun but failed to release the magazine first, so the gun chambered another round. (The stepson) told Perschon that he still needed to take the magazine out and rerack the gun to clear it," according to the charges.
The stepson then tried to get Perschon to go to his bedroom, hoping he would fall asleep. One witness described the stepson as being "aggressive" with Perschon. As he was pushing Perschon toward the bedroom, Perschon "pointed the gun at him saying, 'You think you're some big man now? I'll shoot (you)," the charges allege.
The stepson told Perschon to "go ahead," not believing he'd actually do it, according to investigators. But as the stepson backed into another room and attempted to swat the gun away from him, "it fired, hitting him in the upper chest, and the bullet went clean through him and into the wall behind him," according to the charging documents.
Friends drove the victim to a hospital. Detectives say the man "does not currently have full mobility in and use of his arm as a result of the shooting."
After police were called, they learned that Perschon was last seen asleep on a couch in the house. The Murray police SWAT team obtained a warrant, entered the house and took Perschon into custody without incident.
When investigators searched the home, they found the handgun used to shoot the stepson along with a shotgun and AR-15, according to court documents.
Because Perschon was convicted of felony theft in 2007, prosecutors say he is not allowed to have guns.
