LAKE WALES -- A 19-year-old Lake Wales man is accused of shooting his own mother to death.
Polk Sheriff Grady Judd says Seth Settle told detectives he was depressed and had the gun to his head, when his mother told him not to smoke in the house Thursday. But the bullet went through a closed door and struck the 52-year-old victim in the heart.
Judd says Settle screamed at his brother, who was in the bathroom, then ran out of the house without calling 911.
Family members were grieving, believing their mother had died of "unknown causes", when deputies and detectives arrived at their home on Red Oak Court and Capps Road. The hospital called the sheriff's office after discovering the bullet wound.
According to the sheriff, Settle gave his guns to a friend, who thought he was suicidal. The friend later turned them over to detectives. Judd says Settle lied to detectives five times about the guns, at one point claiming he had thrown the firearms into some woods off Chalet Suzanne Road.
“The suspect is trying to play this off as an accident, but he had a loaded gun and intentionally pointed it at the door where the victim just exited and he fired it. He fled the scene without rendering aid, then he arranged for a friend to dispose of the weapon," Judd said.
Settle is charged with second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, discharging a firearm in a residential area and giving false information during an investigation.
Photo: Polk County Sheriff's Office/Canva