Man Kills Mom After She Tells Him To Stop Smoking: Sheriff

LAKE WALES, FL — A 19-year-old Lake Wales man faces charges of second-degree murder with a weapon after deputies accused him of shooting his 52-year-old mom who stood just outside the suspect's room Thursday morning.

Seth Settle told authorities his mom walked into his bedroom and told him to stop smoking in the house, a Polk County Sheriff's Office news release said.

Settle then shot through the door and a bullet hit the suspect's mom, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.

“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," Judd said. "He fled the scene without rendering aid, then he arranged for a friend to dispose of the weapon. These are not the actions of a man who just accidentally killed someone. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

Settle is accused of immediately leaving his house near Red Oak Court east of Lake Wales after the shooting, deputies.

Investigators said a friend of Settle called police and told them that Settle had given him two guns. Deputies went by the friend's house and took the guns for the investigation.

The victim died at about 10:26 a.m. at a local hospital, deputies said.

According To The Polk County Sheriff's Office, Seth Settle Is In Jail Faces The Below Charges

• Second-degree murder with a weapon
• Tampering with evidence
• Discharging a firearm in a residential area
• Giving false information during an investigation

*The Polk County Sheriff's Office will not release the name of the victim in accordance with Marsy's Law.