COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The father of the man accused in the Monument shooting speaks out.
Eighteen-year-old Logan McClelland is charged with First degree murder in the shooting death of 50-year-old Bradley Blehm on Monday.
El Paso County sheriff's deputies said McClelland shot Blehm to death in the parking lot of the Big O Tires store in Monument.
Tom McClelland said Bradley Blehm started the confrontation. He said he and his son tried to walk away but Blehm wanted to fight, and that’s when his son came to his defense.
Court documents show Logan admitted to detectives that he shot the victim seven times; saying: “I had to do it… I had to keep shooting until he went down.”
"He would have not reacted if he didn’t think I was in serious trouble," Logan’s father, Tom McClelland, said.
Tom said the story is more complicated than what is in the court documents. He said the whole thing started when they went to the Big O to get a nail taken out of a tire.
“I heard the Big O employee as I was walking to the office holler the “f” word really loud," Tom said.
Tom said he reported it to the manager, and the victim came after him for snitching on him. Tom said the victim was drunk, belligerent and itching for a fight.
"He had a liquor bottle sticking out of his back pocket," Tom McClelland said.
Tom said when they tried to drive away the victim started in again.
"He waited for us in the parking lot; he stopped us, and my son defended me from assault," Tom said.
Now Tom is concerned about his son’s future.
"He is very protective. He's only 18 years old. He's never been away from the house. He was home schooled," the elder McClelland said.
Tom said he often works in remote areas and keeps the gun with him for protection.
"You have to be able to defend yourself in this world, and this world is full of crazy people and we met one," he said.
Deputies say the victim was unarmed at the time of the shooting.
We were unable to contact anyone at Big O to comment on our story.
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