POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – A Pottawatomie County man is facing first degree murder charges after allegedly killing his mother’s boyfriend outside of a Prague home.
Court documents filed this week reveal that Joseph Maher was sitting inside his camper on the north end of his mother’s driveway on Summer Trail Road when his mother and her boyfriend, Brian Sorrell approached him. The documents say the couple told Maher they wanted him to leave because of “his drug use.”
Maher’s mother told police her son “became angry after being told the couple locked their house and that he could not go inside while they were gone,” according to court records.
As the argument between Maher and Surrell escalated, the court documents detail Maher’s mother told police she went to sit in her car. From there she allegedly said she saw her son “reach for the gun in the holster, then heard a gunshot.”
The court documents show Surrell “ran from the trailer screaming that he had been shot and jumped in the passenger seat of the vehicle.” Once inside the vehicle, he allegedly “began gasping for air and fell outside onto the ground.”
Maher’s mother called 911 according to court records, however, Surrell died before EMS got there.
Court documents say Maher allegedly told police multiple stories. During one of them, he claimed, “he blacked out and doesn’t remember what happened” and “the gun just went off.”
Maher’s now locked up in the Pottawatomie County Safety Center. He’s set to be in court in mid-October.