Cape Charles man charged with first-degree murder of his grandmother

Linda Cicoira with our media partner WESR/ShoreDailyNews.com contributed to this report.

A Cape Charles man has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his grandmother in February, according to indictments handed down Monday.

Anthony David Mercado, 25, who was living with his 73-year-old grandmother Jane Grigsby McKinley at the time in her Tazewell Street home, was initially charged with second-degree murder.

Prosecutors now believe the shooting death was premeditated.

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25-year-old charged with murder after deadly shooting in Cape Charles

When police arrived at the house after the shooting on Feb. 24, records state Mercado told police "he had just shot someone who entered his house and she was upstairs and not alive."

An officer with the Cape Charles Police Department also wrote, "I found the body of his grandmother upstairs. He was later interviewed (and) he told us he shot her multiple times as she was stepping away from him."

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Mercado had been living with McKinley for a few months prior to the shooting, records show, and she was his only relative in the area.

Mercado also faces charges of maliciously discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling, unlawfully shooting while committing a felony, using a gun in the crime, in addition to several misdemeanor charges.

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