Kathy Pinna
Shooting victim, son had record of conflicts
AP: Neighbors of a 14-year-old boy and the father he is accused of killing often heard the two shouting at each other at their home. Neighbors and Officials said Friday that Jerry "Dago" Occhipenti and his son had a stormy relationship that led to several child-welfare investigations.
About 6 p.m. Thursday, sheriff's deputies responded to a call and drove up to the house about two miles outside the Montgomery County community of Tamina to find the boy standing outside. In the kitchen, they found the body of Occhipenti, 56, who had been shot numerous times with a .22-caliber rifle.
The boy was taken into custody and accused of murder in the juvenile court system.. Retired Judge Lee Alworth, standing in for Juvenile Judge Mason Martin, ordered the boy detained Friday. Although Child Protective Services investigators never found signs of physical abuse, spokeswoman Estella Olguin told the Houston Chronicle for Saturday's editions they were concerned enough to refer the father and son to a therapist who counseled them from February to August last year.
"We have been called out several times, beginning in 1999," Olguin said. "Each time we've been called out, it has been because of a child-parent conflict." Deputies also had been called to the home several times, sheriff's Corporal Denise Janeway said.
Occhipenti had a daughter and a son by other women, and his relationships with them also were strained, said the older son, Christopher Occhipenti, 22, of Houston. "He ca me across as a mean man," he said. "I don't know if I'm shocked (by the slaying), because it could have happened to anybody, the way he was."
The boy called his therapist after the shooting, Janeway said, and the therapist called deputies.
- Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas) Sunday, March 3, 2002 on page 76.
About 6 p.m. Thursday, sheriff's deputies responded to a call and drove up to the house about two miles outside the Montgomery County community of Tamina to find the boy standing outside. In the kitchen, they found the body of Occhipenti, 56, who had been shot numerous times with a .22-caliber rifle.
The boy was taken into custody and accused of murder in the juvenile court system.. Retired Judge Lee Alworth, standing in for Juvenile Judge Mason Martin, ordered the boy detained Friday. Although Child Protective Services investigators never found signs of physical abuse, spokeswoman Estella Olguin told the Houston Chronicle for Saturday's editions they were concerned enough to refer the father and son to a therapist who counseled them from February to August last year.
"We have been called out several times, beginning in 1999," Olguin said. "Each time we've been called out, it has been because of a child-parent conflict." Deputies also had been called to the home several times, sheriff's Corporal Denise Janeway said.
Occhipenti had a daughter and a son by other women, and his relationships with them also were strained, said the older son, Christopher Occhipenti, 22, of Houston. "He ca me across as a mean man," he said. "I don't know if I'm shocked (by the slaying), because it could have happened to anybody, the way he was."
The boy called his therapist after the shooting, Janeway said, and the therapist called deputies.
- Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Texas) Sunday, March 3, 2002 on page 76.
