Man fatally shoots brother choking 80-year-old mom, California police say. ‘No choice’

A 58-year-old man shot and killed his older brother after reportedly finding him choking their 80-year-old mother in her home, California police told news outlets.

The mother called her younger son after police said his 61-year-old brother broke into her Beverly Grove home with a baseball bat at about 1:30 p.m. Friday, March 7, KTLA reported.

He smashed windows and personal belongings in the home with the bat, police told the Los Angeles Times.

When his younger brother arrived, he found the 61-year-old choking their mother on the floor, police told KNBC. He fired a warning shot into the air with a shotgun, then fatally shot his older brother, police said.

“The shooter saved his mother‘s life,” detective Samuel Marullo told KTLA. “He had no choice, but to kill his own brother. And being choked at the age of 80 while your face is being smashed into the ground? It would have surely caused her death.”

Police classed the shooting as a justifiable homicide, the Los Angeles Times reported. The shooter was not booked. The woman required sutures for injuries to her head.

Beverly Grove is a neighborhood about a 10-mile drive west from downtown Los Angeles.

This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 10:27 AM with the headline "Man fatally shoots brother choking 80-year-old mom, California police say. ‘No choice’."