Grandfather shot and killed after fender bender in Walmart parking lot: 'Tearing our family apart'
Matthew Mauk, son of murdered California grandfather Jonathan Mauk, tells 'Fox & Friends First' about the unconscionable homicide that took place after a fender bender in a Walmart parking lot.
A California family is grieving after a beloved grandfather was shot and killed in a "senseless" homicide following a fender bender in a Walmart parking lot.
On February 5, 59-year-old Jonathan Mauk was backing up and accidentally bumped a woman's car. Mauk exited his vehicle and tried to apologize, but the suspect, 37-year-old Shawntece Norton, allegedly pulled out a gun and shot him in the face.
"I really don't have words that I can even bring to mind that I could say to her," Jonathan's son Matthew Mauk said on "Fox & Friends First" Thursday.
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"Just the understanding of the immeasurable loss my family has suffered. The day to day that normal people take for granted. And it's completely tearing our family apart. I've watched some of the strongest people I've met in my life completely break down over something so trivial."
A general view of the Walmart in Highland, California. Police say that Shawntece Norton, 37, shot Mauk in the face and drove away after he attempted to apologize for the minor accident in a Walmart parking lot. (Google Street View)
The younger Mauk said his father went to Walmart to run errands when he was shot and killed.
"He was going there for a couple of very simple supplies. For Christmas, he'd been gifted a dehydrator… and he went there for curing salt and Pepsi. And while driving through the parking lot, this then unfolded."
According to the San Bernardino Police Department, Mauk arrived at the Walmart parking lot at around 8 p.m. and was searching for an open spot. As he maneuvered his vehicle through an aisle, the female suspect, Norton, was backing out of a parking spot.
"For whatever reason, the victim stopped and slowly backed his vehicle up, and that’s when he had a collision with the suspect’s vehicle," Capt. Nelson Carrington told KTLA.
Police said no one was hurt in the collision and that the minor fender bender resulted in just a scratch or two, KTLA reported.
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But when Mauk got out of his vehicle to apologize, Norton allegedly got out of her vehicle and shot him in the face before driving off.
"I can't think of a way to explain it to anybody. I've had to be the one that's reached out to friends of the family, to more distant relatives. And I can't come up with the words. And people have a hard time even knowing what to say," Matthew said.
"It's senseless. There's no logic behind it. It's just devastating."
Matthew Mauk, son of Jonathan Mauk, remembers his father who was killed after a fender bender turned deadly. (Matthew Mauk/Fox News)
Norton was arrested and charged with murder the next day. She is ineligible for bail and is being held at West Valley Detention Center, according to police records.
Jonathan Mauk is survived by his three sons and two grandchildren. A GoFundMe page set up by Matthew Mauk to raise money for funeral expenses has raised $13,181 toward a $15,000 goal.
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Fox News' Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
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