It’s regrettable, although not all that uncommon, when a family member has to shoot another family member in self-defense. And it seems even more regrettable when a young man is forced to shoot his father to protect himself and his mother.

Yet that seems to be the case in an Arkansas shooting that left one man dead and his son claiming the shooting was in self-defense.

According to a recent report at deltaplexnews.com, the prosecuting attorney in the murder trial for Justice Taggart, who shot and killed his father, Maurice Taggart, on Aug. 30, 2023, has declared that the younger Taggart was reasonable in using deadly force against his dad.

According to the report, Taggart was the former Director of the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency and had been recently charged, along with Rodrick Morris, of stealing approximately $667,000 from the City of Pine Bluff by defrauding Urban Renewal. He and his wife Shawndra had a strained relationship, but she was afraid of what he might do if she filed for divorce.

In fact, according to Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr., the day before the shooting the elder Taggart had threatened to harm his wife if she filed for divorce.

The younger Taggart was spending the night with his parents when his father threatened to kill his mother, prompting him to insist that his father leave the house. A struggle ensued, and the elder Taggart pulled a handgun.

The argument moved outside where the elder Taggart shot his son in the chest. They then struggled for the gun, Justice won the struggle and shot his father. The mother immediately called for help, and responding officers found both men lying in the backyard with gunshot wounds. The elder Taggart was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, where Justice was treated and released.

Under Arkansas law, “a person is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person if the person reasonably believes that the other person is committing or about to commit a felony involving physical force or violence or using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force.”

And that’s exactly what the prosecutor determined that the younger Taggart had done, with the investigation declaring Justice “was reasonable in using deadly force against Taggart because Taggart had first shot Justice in the chest.” The prosecutor also stated, “Additionally, the death investigation establishes that Justice shot his father in self-defense.”