Authorities claim a Christmas Eve fight over cheating allegations ended in bloodshed, as a mother describes her son’s final, frantic words over a phone call before his father allegedly shot him.
The mother of a 26-year-old man allegedly shot and killed by his own father is speaking out on his heartbreaking Christmas Eve death.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced last week that 61-year-old Harold Luster of High Ridge, Missouri was charged with first degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Kevin Ward, his 26-year-old son. Luster entered a not guilty plea last week.
The incident went down on December 24th, Christmas Eve, at Luster’s home, while Ward and his fiancée were visiting from St. Louis.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office
Man Kills Own Son on Christmas Eve In Fight Over Mom Cheating Allegations: Sheriff
View Story
The victim’s fiancée, per probable cause documents via the Sun Herald, told deputies she was in a disagreement with Luster over accusations the man’s partner — who is Ward’s mother — was cheating. Luster allegedly felt his son’s fiancée was “withholding information” from him and asked, “Do you wanna get shot?”
After Ward told her to run, she said she heard her fiancé tell his father, “You’re not going to shoot her,” before Luster responded, “You wanna get shot instead?” She said she then saw Luster raise his arm while holding something that looked like a gun, before firing a single shot at his son’s forehead, sending Ward to the ground.
Surveillance footage from a nearby home also allegedly showed the shooting, with a visible muzzle flash before the victim collapsed.
Speaking with KSDK, Katherine Ward — Kevin’s mother and the woman Luster accused of cheating — said she was expecting her son and his girlfriend to come to her place for Christmas. She told the outlet the two were also expecting a baby at the time of his death — with his fiancée due in June.
“Kevin was my go to person,” she said. “My son was the best. He was a great kid that didn’t deserve that night and I wish 1,000 times he never went down there. But me and him never would have thought this would ever happen. It’s almost like I’m in a nightmare and I can’t get out.”
“A senseless act took my baby away from me. I will never see him walk through my door and say ‘mom’, I won’t have birthdays, Christmases,” she continued, in tears. “I will have to sit there and hold his baby for the first time because he won’t be able to.”
Pearl River County Jail
Woman Shoots Husband Dead After Finalizing Divorce, Ahead of His Trial for Shooting Her: Police
View Story
According to Katherine, Luster and another family member had been arguing and the fight “did not have nothing to do with Kevin.” She claimed Harold was “already worked up over that incident.”
She also said she got a phone call from Luster and could hear her son in the background shouting, “Dad, why are you doing this? I don’t deserve this” as Harold allegedly beat on the young man’s truck. She then received another call from Luster, saying he had shot someone.
“Kevin died with a gunshot to his forehead and his hands tucked in his pockets,” Ward claimed. “He was ultimately going to shoot Kevin’s fiancée and Kevin sacrificed himself, he was the hero that night. He would rather die than have her and that baby taken.”
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Father Accused of Beheading 1-Year-Old Son After Assaulting Wife & Mother-In-Law: Sheriff
View Story
She also denied cheating on Luster, saying she had an on-and-off again relationship with him and claimed he was living with another woman at the time.
“I honestly believe Kevin didn’t think his father would ever do something like that to him … I always thought it was going to be me, not my son,” she added, saying that she hopes Luster “[suffers] every day at that memory.”
“My son cannot breathe, my son cannot walk, my son cannot see, my son is not here no more … As far as justice, [Harold] deserves life,” she concluded.
Luster will be back in court on January 3 for a bond review hearing.
FOX 25
MA Man Sentenced for Grisly Murder, Assault & Burning of Cousin’s Wife and Children
View Story
