Police in North Carolina have arrested a man who they say shot and wounded his son after a heated Thanksgiving day argument about athletes kneeling during the national anthem.
Investigators for the Cary Police Department have charged Luis Valencia Lamadri, 51, with felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, according to the City County Bureau Identification arrest records.
Authorities say Lamadri shot his son, 21-year-old Esteban Marley Valencia, with a shotgun after a physical altercation that stemmed from the argument.
According to Valencia-Lamadri, his son started throwing furniture and a water bottle, hitting him in the face.
That’s when Valencia-Lamadri pulled the trigger of the pistol grip shotgun he was holding, striking Esteban Valancia in the hand and leg before he was taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
Family members who witnessed the incident told police Esteban Valenia had been involved in physical and verbal altercations with several people inside the home that day.
Valencia-Lamadri told detectives Esteban had been drinking all day and was asked to leave after his father retrieved the shotgun, according to The News and Observer.
But instead of leaving, Esteban began throwing patio furniture and other items at his father and family members in the backyard of their two-story home.
After Esteban struck his father with a water bottle in the face, Valencia-Lamadri pulled the trigger of the shotgun, striking his son in the hand and leg.
Valencia-Lamadri said he wasn’t trying to harm his son, but that when he and his family sat down for their Thanksgiving meal, Esteban and Lamadri’s other son 27-year-old Felipe Miguel Valencia got into a heated argument about athletes taking a knee during the national anthem.
That’s when Esteban charged at Felipe.
But Lamadri did not have the strength to prevent his two son’s from fighting and Esteban apparently wasn’t going to leave the home, so he retrieved his shotgun.
Lamadri was later transported to the Wake County jail and later released after posting a $50,000 bond.
