Police: Tx. teen tested silencing gun before killing parents
HOUSTON (WPVI) -- New details are emerging about the night a well-known couple was gunned down last week in southwest Houston.
The 16-year-old son of Antonio and Dawn Armstrong is charged with his parents' murder.
Antonio Armstrong was a former NFL player and fitness instructor, and head of an "all-American family," according to police.
The Armstrongs were found in their second-floor bedroom early Friday morning on Palmetto at Mapleridge in the Bellaire area.
In probable cause court, KTRK-TV in Houston learned it was their son who called police at 1:41 am Friday.
EXCLUSIVE: Antonio Armstrong's mother speaks out
The teen allegedly told police he heard gunshots in his parents' bedroom and that he went inside a closet on the third floor. His sister, meantime, was sound asleep in her second flood bedroom.
Police say it was the teen who allowed them inside the home when they arrived, and that Armstrong's son had to turn off an expensive security system to let them in.
Officers were not convinced by the teen's story, at one point allegedly claiming he saw a masked man inside the house.
The Armstrongs were found shot inside their bedroom, both with pillows over their faces. Dawn Armstrong was dead by the time police found her.
A .22 caliber handgun was also found on a kitchen counter, along with a handwritten note. We have yet to learn what the note said, but we were told the bullet casings found in the bedroom matched the gun.
Detectives claim the suspect admitted to experimenting with silencing the gun with blankets and pillows in recent days.
The 16-year-old suspect is charged with murder, but capital murder is a possible upgrade after his father later died at a hospital.
The teen will not be released at this time.
