Father shoots son during Thanksgiving argument over NFL national anthem protests

A Thanksgiving Day argument about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem ended with a North Carolina father shooting one of his sons with a shotgun, according to WNCN-TV.

Jorge Luis Valencia Lamadrid, 51, of Cary, North Carolina, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for shooting his son, who suffered non-life threatening injuries to his leg and hand, according to police documents.

Here’s how it escalated: It’s Thanksgiving Day, and the family is talking politics (a topic it’s advisable to avoid during the holidays). And, of course, alcohol was involved.

With that volatile set of circumstances in place, two of Lamadrid’s sons quickly began arguing about NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem to protest social inequality and police brutality against minorities.

Lamadrid, having had enough of the disruptive conflict, told his 21-year-old son (the victim) to go outside. Witnesses told police that the victim had been drinking heavily all day leading up to the confrontation.

The argument turned physical, so Lamadrid, not strong enough to break up the fight, decided to add another dangerous ingredient to the mix: his shotgun. Once the victim saw the shotgun, he finally agreed to at least leave the house.

He didn’t stay out, however. The victim came back into the house and reignited the argument with his dad, leading Lamadrid to pack his son’s bags and throw them off the back porch. In a rage, the son then began throwing patio furniture in the backyard.

How the dad says he shot his son: According to Lamadrid, he was holding the shotgun while his son angrily threw things around in the backyard. The son allegedly threw a water bottle and hit Lamadrid in the face, which Lamadrid said made him pull the trigger and shoot his son.

After the nonfatal gunshot, Lamadrid, made sure his son was (relatively speaking) okay, and then went inside to get dressed and wait for the police to get there.