It has been almost a year since the murder of Antonio Armstrong Sr and his wife Dawn. Aside from being an NFL player, Antonio Armstrong Sr was a motivational speaker and successful business owner with his wife. Their son Antonio Armstrong Jr is being accused of the crime and currently stands trial for capital murder. Here are more details.
A 17-year-old boy practiced killing his former NFL player father and his mother for months before shooting them dead, according to court documents. Antonio Armstrong Jr, 17, also known as AJ, is charged with capital murder over the murders of Dawn and Antonio Armstrong Sr, a former Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers linebacker, as they slept inside the family’s home in Houston on July 29, 2016.
The court heard that AJ had practiced and planned out just how to kill his parents, both 42.Investigators said the teen admitted he had experimented on how to silence a gun with blankets and pillows. A search of the home, revealed both a crack pipe and a pillow and comforter set with bullet holes in AJ’s room. Prosecutors say that, on the night of the murder, the teen shot both his parents through the head while they slept. He then tried to start a fire which he later claimed was an accident, court documents state. AJ’s 12-year-old sister slept through the entire incident.
AJ insists his innocence and claims a masked intruder was responsible. Video was shown of police going through the home after the incident and discovering the weapon.
The video of the police walk-through also displayed Dawn’s lifeless body laying on a bloodstained bed, reported KTRK. Antonio was rushed to a hospital, where he later died.
Documents allege that AJ wrote the note to try and throw police off his tail by making them believe it had been an intruder.But police were immediately suspicious after they found no other signs of a break in.
AJ also had to deactivate a security alarm at 2am shortly before they arrived.
AJ Armstrong has vehemently maintained his innocence, claiming that a masked intruder was responsible for the killings.
The defense has argued there were no gunshot residue nor his fingerprints on the murder weapon that night.