A teenager in Florida has been arrested after allegedly beating his grandmother to death over beer.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, 18-year-old Dylan Broughman was charged with murder last week after allegedly beating his 69-year-old grandmother Joyce Courson to death.
The assault happened on the morning of Oct. 10. A witness told police that he heard the teen and his grandmother arguing after she hid the teenager's beer while he was in the shower. According to WJXT, the grandmother didn't want the teen to drink because he wasn't 21 years old yet, which led to an argument with the teen. During the argument, the teenager allegedly started to punch holes in the walls of the residence.
A witness told the Florida Times-Union, "She took the beer and he just flipped out and I guess she wouldn’t tell him where she put it, so he started punching holes in the wall, then destroying the house pretty much and then blaming her."
Then, the "witness heard a couple bangs followed up with the victim screaming for help." The victim said that her grandson pushed her to the ground. After that, according to the JSO, "the suspect held her down and punched her in the face repeatedly with a closed fist and began kicking her while she was on the ground."
When police responded to a domestic disturbance call shortly before 8 a.m., they found the grandmother bleeding on the floor. "She was just covered in blood," a witness told WJXT. "There's blood everywhere, all over the floor, and she was bleeding profusely from her head, and the house was trashed. Holes in the walls and whatnot."
The suspect had left the residence, but was arrested shortly after. At the time, he was charged with aggravated battery.
On Oct. 18, eight days after the assault, the grandmother died in the hospital. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, and last week the teen was charged with murder.
Broughman, who does not have a criminal record, struggles with anger issues, according to family members. The teen's mother told Action News Jax, "Even though he was drinking the day of the incident, he has some severe anger issues but it rarely comes out but when it comes, it just comes." The teen told police that when he gets mad, "he blacks out in rage and does not remember what he does."
The mother, however, has a criminal history and has been arrested more than 20 times, including arrests for drug abuse and prostitution. While the charges were later dropped, the suspect's mother, who is also the daughter of the victim, was arrested for battery back in June, when the teen told police that he saw his mother beat his grandmother on more than one occasion.
The teen's paternal grandmother said of the teen and his mother, "When you have a crackhead mother coming and going, being arrested every month—how do they expect this kid to grow up normal."
