Iowa man allegedly shoots his father in face after complaint about smelly feet

A man shot his father in the face after the victim complained about the son’s smelly feet, according to authorities in Iowa .

David Carpenter, 48, faces a charge of attempted murder after investigators arrested him in a case that illustrates how quickly relatively minor, interpersonal quarrels can escalate into shootings in the US, which – according to some estimates – has more guns in circulation than people.

Police in the city of Burlington – about 170 miles (274km) from the state capital of Des Moines – said a local hospital treated Carpenter’s father for a bullet wound to his face late on Sunday night. He told officers who interviewed him at the hospital that his son had shot him after the pair had argued at home over the younger man’s “stinky feet”.

Carpenter himself then allegedly confirmed to police that he had been in the family’s living room when his father – while in a motorized scooter – said the son’s feet smelled badly. The remark prompted the two to bicker heatedly about various familial problems, and Carpenter claimed he heard his father threaten to shoot him, police said in sworn documents reviewed and reported on by the Iowa news station KWQC .

At that point, Carpenter allegedly said, he walked to his bedroom, grabbed a gun and returned to his father. Carpenter described hiding the firearm behind his back, yelling at his father about “guns”, then aiming the weapon at the older man’s face and “accidentally pulling the trigger”, police said.

Officers arrived at the Carpenter family home after the son called police to report the shooting. Police then arrested Carpenter in the front yard while first responders brought his father to the hospital for a facial injury that was not considered life-threatening, KWQC reported.

In addition to attempted murder, officers jailed Carpenter on a count of child endangerment, with investigators alleging there were two minors under the age of 14 in the home where the shooting occurred.

Carpenter was ordered held in custody in lieu of a $100,000 bond, KWQC reported. He had a preliminary court hearing tentatively scheduled for 21 August.

The shooting that led to Carpenter’s arrest was not the only instance of violence reported to have had an unusual motive that recently made news headlines in the US.

On 7 August, a man from suburban Philadelphia pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing his neighbor in January after the two men – who shared a wall in a duplex home – argued over the killer’s loud snoring.