A 15-year-old from Columbia County in Georgia will not be indicted with murder for shooting his abusive father in the head and killing him, a grand jury decided on Wednesday. Tucker Gales did not dispute that he shot 66-year-old Wesley Jordan Gales in the head with a .22-caliber rifle back in October 2020. The younger Gales said that the reason he did it was that “he had enough of his father abusing his mother.”
Wesley Gales’ history of domestic violence and abuse, against both his son and ex-wife, was well-documented. For instance, there was a reported incident where Wesley Gales allegedly threatened to shoot his son in the head and “kicked his ex-wife in the groin area,” as The Augusta Chronicle put it. As recently as May 2020 and just months before he was shot, Wesley Gales pleaded guilty to domestic abuse and child cruelty charges.
“The police visited the home multiple times since 2011. No action was taken to remove this family from the danger in the home. He pleaded for help on multiple occasions and the system failed him,” said Emily Martinez, the organizer of the GoFundMe campaign. “It’s a sad day because this child had to take matters into his own to hands to defend and protect him and his mom.”
Sad that it had to happen this way but I’m not going to shed any tears over a serial abuser getting put down that way.
Glad the jury saw it that way too.
I hope the boy can heal from the emotional damage and live a happy rest of his life.
“The police visited the home multiple times since 2011. No action was taken to remove this family from the danger in the home. He pleaded for help on multiple occasions and the system failed him,”
If anyone should be indicted for murder, it should be the Police Officers and DAs involved in this flustercluck that let this go on for so long.
Yes, but unfortunately “no duty to protect” stands in the way.