Roger Schweda (Blackman-Leoni Township Police via WLNS).
A Michigan man is accused of fatally shooting his own mother and killing his neighbor in his driveway after the neighbor received a mysterious voicemail from the alleged shooter saying his mother was dead and he couldn’t go in his house.
Roger Albert Schweda, 40, faces two counts of open murder and two felony firearms counts in the deaths of his mother, Shari Schweda, 70, and Thomas Farnsworth, 57, online court records show.
The events leading to the deaths began on Saturday when Roger Schweda allegedly shot and killed his mother at their home on Welch Lake Road in Leoni Township, a small, unincorporated community in the south-central part of the state.
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Roger Schweda then allegedly left Farnsworth a voicemail message saying he couldn’t go home anymore because his mother was dead, local NBC affiliate WILX reported.
The case came to light when Farnsworth called police to do a welfare check at the Schweda home, the outlet reported.
On that call, Farnsworth physically verified the Schweda address to 911 dispatchers by going to the home and was allegedly shot in the driveway by the defendant as he was pulling into the driveway, the outlet reported. A gunshot could be heard over the phone, but Farnsworth did not speak again, the station reported.
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Roger Schweda then allegedly took off in his mother’s car, which was later tracked down in a township miles away, where he was pulled over in a traffic stop after a short chase and arrested, MLive reported.
At the Schweda home, police found Farnsworth dead in the driveway, WILX reported. Police described “a gruesome scene” in the bedroom where Shari Schweda’s body was located, the station reported.
Roger Schweda was held at the Jackson County Jail without bond. He was set to appear in court on Jan. 3, online court records show.
The defendant is expected to undergo a competency exam, MLive reported.
