A California man charged with murdering his mother told police that killing her and desecrating her body felt “good,” according to reports.
Omar Pettigen, 31, allegedly used a tomahawk that hung on the wall of his 64-year-old mother’s Monroe apartment to strike her on the head before shooting her in the back at least seven times and cutting open her chest to pick up her heart, according to court documents obtained by The New York Daily News.
Omar Pettigen allegedly said the gruesome act felt “good” when he was arrested north of Oakland on Sunday, SFgate.com wrote.
His arrest came after police discovered the woman’s body in her blood-soaked bedroom, according to the News. They were performing a welfare check on the behest of Nailah Pettigen’s ex-husband.
The former American High School math teacher “appeared to have been disemboweled,” the News wrote, noting she had been cut from her neck down to her cervix.
Omar Pettigen allegedly told detectives he comitted the act because his mother was killing herself with prescription painkillers, which he said she had become addicted to after hip and knee problems as well as surgery, the News wrote.
He allegeldy told detectives that his mother was yelling at him and during the argument, she pointed a gun at him, which prompted him to grab a hammer off the bedroom wall to knock the gun out of her hand, SFGate.com wrote. He left the room and returned with the tomahawk.
He allegedly told police that after the gruesome killing, he left the home, had a few beers with friends and booked an airline ticket for Chicago, the News reported.