Man Charged with Fatally Shooting His Sister on Thanksgiving After She Unfriended Him on Facebook
A man from Alaska has been charged with murder after officials say he allegedly shot his younger sister on Thanksgiving following her decision to unfriend or block him on Facebook.
The Anchorage Police Department arrested Moses Tony Crowe, 27, last week shortly after the fatal holiday altercation with his sister Amanda Rose Owen.
In a statement, police said they responded to the Anchorage home around 3:14 p.m. last Thursday for a report of a shooting. When they arrived, officers found Owen, 23, with a gunshot wound to her upper body.
Owen was transported to a nearby hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
Charging documents obtained by the Anchorage Daily News said authorities received two 911 calls that day — the first from Owen’s uncle and the second from Crowe’s grandmother.
Owen’s uncle alleged in the documents that he “heard a pop” while cooking the Thanksgiving meal and later discovered that the 23-year-old was accidentally shot, reporting at the time that she was “unconscious but breathing.”
Crowe’s grandmother, who told authorities she witnessed the shooting, identified the suspect as her grandson.
She claimed in the documents that she was sitting on her bed speaking to Owen, who was sitting in a chair with her 1-year-old son in her lap, when Crowe came into the room, upset over Owen’s alleged decision to defriend or block him on Facebook.
The grandmother claimed Crowe then pulled a gun from his pocket — though she admitted that at the time, she was unsure of what the object was — and explained how he allegedly “manipulated” the object.
While recalling what happened to detectives, the grandmother even made “a motion consistent with racking the slide of a semiautomatic pistol,” the documents state. She claimed Crowe then pointed the black pistol at Owen’s head and shot the gun.
The grandmother also noted how Crowe had stayed up late drinking the night before and slept in past noon on Thanksgiving Day, according to the documents.
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After shooting the gun, Crowe allegedly told his grandmother that he was “gonna go to jail for life” and asked her not to call the police, as he “didn’t mean it.” He left the Anchorage residence shortly after the incident, the documents state.
Around 7:10 p.m. that night, Anchorage Police announced in a press release that they were conducting a K9 search of the area to find Crowe. He was eventually taken into custody without incident by patrol officers and a SWAT team and transported to the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
By Friday, the Anchorage Police confirmed that Crowe had been charged with second-degree murder.
“As the investigation progresses the prosecutor may add or amend charges as necessary,” the police spokesperson added.
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During an interview with police, Crowe allegedly told detectives that he accidentally shot Owen with a Glock while “twirling the pistol around on his finger when it went off,” according to the documents obtained by the Anchorage Daily News.
He allegedly continued to claim that the shooting was accidental, despite his grandmother’s differing account.
District Court Judge Leslie Dickson reportedly set Crowe’s bail at $500,000 cash with third-party supervision and Pretrial Enforcement Division supervision with alcohol testing, according to the local outlet. He currently remains in jail.
An attorney to speak on Crowe’s behalf could not immediately be found by PEOPLE.