Deputies responded to a number of violent incidents over years prior to father, son fatally shooting each other

Click here for updates on this story

    WASHINGTON COUNTY, Alabama (WALA) — A fatal encounter between a father and son in Wagarville all started after 32-year-old Kelvin Nicholas Coker allegedly shot his father’s dog Saturday afternoon.

Chief investigator for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Blake Richardson, says Nicholas Coker allegedly started shooting at four of the family dogs after one of them started messing with his girlfriend’s young child.

Two of the dogs were killed, one of them was his own, the other was his fathers.

“His brother said dad is going to be upset that you killed his dog and Nicholas allegedly pointed the shotgun at his brother and using choice language more or less told him to get off his property or he would kill him,” said Richardson.

Moments later 60-year-old Kelvin James Coker pulled up to his son’s home in his truck and a confrontation started.

“Nicholas pointed his shotgun at his father and his father then… who was seated in his vehicle drew his handgun, fired a shot and struck Nicholas.”

Nicholas, who was shot in the torso, allegedly fired back with his shotgun striking his father in his neck and killing him.
Soon after, Nicholas also died.

Richardson says the tragic ordeal could have been prevented.

“It’s unfortunate that they would not value human life not any more than that.”

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office says they’ve responded to a number of violent incidents over the years at the Coker family’s property.

Deputies had just been out there for another incident last week.

Fox10 News also learned from the sheriff’s office that back in 2012 James Coker shot his other son three times in the arm and was charged with first degree assault.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.