Man Who Allegedly Murdered Father Shot and Killed by Woman Claiming Self-Defense

A south Florida man who was arrested four years ago for allegedly murdering his sleeping father is dead, and the woman who shot him tells police it was an act of self-defense. 

Police in Deerfield Beach, Florida say Maurice Wright, Jr. was shot and killed at an apartment in the Broward County community on Wednesday evening. The woman who admitted shooting Wright remained on scene to speak with investigators, and so far has not been arrested or charged with a crime. 

The woman’s nieghbor, Marcelle Thomas, said the woman had been through a difficult relationship with Wright.

Thomas said she had heard Wright was abusive toward the woman and her children.

“What I heard is that the dude was abusing her, abusing the 4-year-old and tried to abuse the 11-year-old,” Thomas said.

Thomas said Wright had previously been jailed in connection with the killing of his father.

Local 10 covered that incident in 2022, when Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputies used an explosive tactical breach to take Wright into custody at a motel.

Wright was accused of killing his father with an assault rifle and was charged with second-degree murder.

Wright was originally held without bond when he was taken into custody four years ago, but apparently was released at some point. There are no local news stories about either a trial or a plea deal on the second-degree murder charge, so it’s unclear if or when that case was resolved. 

Wright was out on bond after an arrest on felony cocaine possession and knowingly driving without a license charges when he was accused of shooting his sleeping father with a rifle on May 30, 2022. According to a report by NBC Miami at the time of his arrest, the junior Wright had also been accused of physically assaulting his girlfriend the month before. 

In April, Wright Jr. was arrested after a physical altercation with his girlfriend where he threatened to kill her and was in possession of a rifle at the time, the warrant said.

The rifle cartridges he was arrested with at the time matched the physical description of the casings found at the scene of his father’s killing, the warrant said.

Wright Jr. had been released from jail on May 20, 10 days before the alleged killing of his father, the warrant said.

Video footage showed a white vehicle fleeing the scene of the murder at a high rate of speed, the warrant said. Investigators learned the same vehicle had been involved in an attempted murder the day before, May 29, where a rifle casing had been collected at the scene, the warrant said.

While there are obviously still questions about whether Wright Jr. was killed in self-defense, I’d say there are also some unanswered questions about why he wasn’t behind bars at the time of his death. Did prosecutors drop the murder charges he was facing in his father’s killing? Did police ever tie Wright Jr. to that attempted murder that took place the day before his father was killed? And what was the end result of the charges that he faced for threatening to kill his girlfriend and allegedly physically assaulting her in April 2022? 

Wright Jr.’s grandmother spoke to police after her son was killed and said the pair had previously had an “altercation” in February 2022 where Wright Jr. pistol-whipped his dad. The grandmother also informed police that Wright Jr. had threatened to “kill the family” that same month. 

After that, their relationship “changed and became turbulent,” the warrant said.

“I love him because he’s my brother,” said his sister, Marquisha Wright. “But it’s like, I hate you because of what you did.”

Wright Jr.’s grandmother also told police that he “was known to carry firearms and would shoot the firearms indiscriminately inside and outside of the residence,” the warrant said.

The woman’s claim of self-defense certainly sounds plausible given what his own family has said about Wright Jr. We’ll be keeping our eyes out for any updates in this case, as well as any explanation that authorities might have for why Wright Jr. was out on the streets instead of being behind bars after he was accused of patricide just four years ago. 

Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.

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