A son is charged with shooting his father during a family dispute at Weston.
The father suffered a non life-threatening injury, authorities said, and the shooter himself was treated for an injury to his finger from the incident, which occurred at a residence in the 700 block of Cherry St. in Weston about 7:30 a.m. on Monday. Michael A. Hull, age 30, is charged with a felony of assault in the second degree by means of a deadly weapon. He is in custody in the Platte County Jail with bond set at $35,000 cash only.
According to court documents, the father, identified by authorities as Tracey Hull, contacted the sheriff’s office to notify police he had been shot. The elder Hull told Weston Police Chief Terry Blanton that his son had just shot him.
Authorities say a search warrant was later applied for and served at the residence. Evidence included blood splatter and parts of a severed finger, which were retrieved and documented. In addition, a Smith and Wesson Model 686 with unfired rounds and one expended shell casing in the cylinder was recovered.
The father told police he had been having ongoing issues with Michael Hull “regarding his recurring methamphetamine use and the fact he refused to go to work,” according to court documents. The father owns a business that rehabs old houses and he said his son had not been showing up for work so he decided to go to the house to confront him about it.
When he arrived at the house, the father and son began to argue and the father said Michael grabbed a gun and pointed it at him. As soon as he saw the gun, the father said he rushed forward and grabbed it before the trigger could be pulled. For a short amount of time they wrestled for the gun in a standing position until it went off and the father realized he had been shot in the side.
According to court documents, the father showed investigators where he had an abrasion above his left eye and he stated he thought he might have some gun powder lodged in his left eye as well. He told police the mark above his eye may have been a glancing wound from the bullet because there was also a hole in his hat. Investigators noticed a break in the father’s skin in his left underarm area that measured about six inches long and four inches wide. The father stated the wound was from a grazing round from the gun.
Detectives then spoke with Michael Hull, initially at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City and later at the sheriff’s office. Hull agreed to speak with detectives without an attorney present, according to court documents.
Michael Hull told police he woke up around 7 a.m. to a pounding on the door to his friend’s house where he had spent the night. He said he and his father work together rehabbing houses in Kansas City but he was looking for another job mainly because he was tired of working “for hours on end and getting left behind at houses where he worked without transportation” and said his father would go for months at a time without paying him for the work.
Michael Hull told detectives that he knew the altercation was going to escalate and prepared himself to “weather the storm” early on in the conversation. He said he kept trying to tell his father he was tired of not getting paid and in response he said his father called him “a worthless piece of . . .”.
Michael Hull told police after that point in the verbal altercation, he looked up and as his father was approaching him, he grabbed a revolver lying on the coffee table in the living room “in an effort to protect himself because in addition to his aggressive efforts and verbiage, he also knew his father carried a gun most of the time,” according to court papers.
The two wrestled over the gun for a short time until it went off while they were up against a wall, according to Michael Hull. After the gun went off, the younger Hull told police he took the gun away and tossed it aside. He told police that at that time he saw blood on the elder Hull’s face and neck and then noticed his shirt was ripped. Michael Hull told detectives that he asked his father to show him inside his shirt but the father refused to do so and walked out of the house.
Michael Hull said he looked outside as his father sat in his vehicle and noticed his father was texting on his cell phone, so he assumed he was going to be okay. At that point, Hull said he realized his left ring finger “had been shot during the exchange and was hanging on by a small piece of skin,” according to court documents.
Michael Hull told police he was transported to an area hospital by friends who were at the home.
Court documents filed in this case indicate Michael Hull has a lengthy criminal history, including multiple driving while intoxicated arrests, multiple counts of resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance, aggravated failure to appear (felony) in Kansas, misdemeanor unlawful use of drug paraphernalia, theft of a motor vehicle and misdemeanor theft.