Police: Paraplegic Man Kills Brother, Says He Was Defending Sister
By Elizabeth Hur
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – He claims he opened fire in self-defense.
A man in a wheelchair shot and killed his brother and police say the shooting appears to have stemmed from a family dispute.
"I loved them to death," Brian Lee said.
Lee says when he heard the commotion, he ran downstairs but by then it was too late. His brother-in-law, John Mapp, had been shot allegedly by Mapp's younger brother who police say is a paraplegic.
"There is nothing in the world they wouldn't do for me, I wouldn't do for them. They're really genuinely great people," Lee said.
It was shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday morning, police responded to a report of a shooting in the 5800 block of Filbert Street in West Philadelphia. When officers arrived, we're told they found Mapp lying in the middle of the street, shot once in the chest. The 40-year-old was rushed to the hospital where he later died.
Lee said, "I'm not going to say anything to damage anyone's integrity or anything, other than that, I have no idea, none."
Lee says he was upstairs sleeping with his children. What went wrong, he doesn't know. But according to police, Mapp's younger brother told investigators, Mapp was physically abusing him and his sister and after attacking his sister, Mapp was coming for him and that's when the 34-year-old shot him.
"I wasn't there but I know that this was a tragedy that's going to rock the family forever," Lee said.
Late Sunday, police said no one was arrested and the investigation is continuing.
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