Wounded wife holds down husband with gun as daughter dies at their feet

When sheriff’s deputies arrived early Sunday at the Bells’ home in east Macon, Benny Bell Jr. still had a gun.

E-911 dispatchers heard yelling in the background as officers were called for unknown trouble at the house on Lakeshore Avenue just after 3 a.m. on Mother’s Day, according to a Bibb County sheriff’s incident report.

Thelma Bell, who had been shot in the lower abdomen, was holding her husband down on a recliner and warned deputies that he had the weapon under his hand.

The deputy twice ordered the 67-year-old man to take his hand off the gun, or he would be shot.

Bell complied and got on the floor, where 37-year-old Demetrice Bell lay face down.

She had been shot in the left chest and died at the house. Her mother was taken to the Medical Center, Navicent Health.

Benny Bell did not want to talk to deputies, the report said, nor did he say much when he went before Magistrate Judge Barbara Harris just after 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Bell, 67, shuffled slowly into Bibb County Magistrate Court at the jail to hear charges against him.

Bell, who politely thanked the deputy who directed him to his seat, is charged with murder in his daughter’s death and aggravated assault in the wounding of his wife.

Both charges are characterized as family violence.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office reported the faather and daughter argued just after 3 a.m. Sunday when she returned home.

When they began fighting, he went for a gun, according to a sheriff’s release.

Bell waived his right to a commitment hearing and is being held without bond.

This story was originally published May 15, 2017 at 2:48 PM with the headline "Wounded wife holds down husband with gun as daughter dies at their feet."