A Grand Junction man has been arrested in the investigation of murder in the death of his 13-year-old autistic son, authorities say.
Allen Lee Grabe, 51, was being held on $1 million bond following the Thursday shooting of his son at Grabe’s home in the 3000 block of Wedgewood Avenue, authorities said.
According to local media reports, neighbors heard gunshots before deputies arrived and took Allen Grabe away in handcuffs.
Mesa County Sheriff’s Office officials did not identify the boy, but neighbors said he was Jacob Grabe, an eighth-grader at Grand Mesa Middle School.
Allen Grabe also is being held in the investigation of child abuse causing death, said Heather Benjamin, spokeswoman for the Sheriff’s Office.
Benjamin said deputies were called to the home Thursday at 9:53 p.m. and found Grabe’s son.
A Mesa County coroner’s employee said he could not discuss any findings of an autopsy.
Phyllis Patton, 70, who lives across the street, said she awoke Thursday night to the sounds of yelling and her dog barking.
“The neighborhood is real quiet today,” she said. “Everyone feels a sense of sadness.”
Patton said she kept her distance from the Grabes after repeatedly seeing Allen Grabe in his front yard throwing his hands up in the air and laughing and talking to himself.
“He was always talking to himself,” she said. “They usually kept to themselves and didn’t have much to do with neighbors.”
He had his own window-installation business, she said.
Jacob sometimes played with her grandchildren when they came over to visit her, she said.
“He was just a real quiet little boy,” Patton said. “He was small for his age. He was mostly isolated from other kids. He was just kind of different.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
