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Police: Man angry over video game shoots, kills mom

CERES, Calif. — A California man is accused of shooting and killing his mother after becoming upset over a video game he was playing, police officials said.

Matthew Douglas Nicholson, 28, of Ceres, is charged with murder and making a criminal threat, according to records from the Stanislaus County Jail. He is being held without bail.

Officials with the Ceres Police Department reported that officers were called to Nicholson's parents' home shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday after his father called 911 to report the shooting. Nicholson's mother, Lydia Susanne Nicholson, had been shot in the head.

The 68-year-old woman died of her injuries at a hospital.

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Detectives determined that Matthew Nicholson was in his bedroom, playing video games, when he became enraged over the game he was playing and started yelling, police officials said. His mother went into his room to check on him, and the pair began arguing.

Nicholson broke his game headset during the argument and blamed his mother, officials said. Threatening to kill his mother and father, he retrieved a handgun, police officials said.

After firing two shots into a wall, Nicholson turned the gun on his mother, according to investigators.

He also tried to shoot his father, Loren Nicholson, who wrestled the gun away from him, a Ceres Police Department news release said. The 81-year-old was not injured in the scuffle.

"I understand that he would've killed the father, too, but the gun jammed," a family friend told Fox 40 in Sacramento. "The father grabbed the gun (and) emptied it."

Matthew Nicholson fled and headed to his sister’s home, in nearby Riverbank, police officials said. Officers there located the vehicle he was driving and conducted a high-risk traffic stop.

Nicholson was taken into custody without incident, the news release said.

His sister described their mother as a wonderful person who loved her children and husband of 32 years. Lydia Nicholson worked in the local school system, Autumn Nicholson told Fox 40.

“(She) had so much compassion for people and just wanted to see the best in people at all times,” she said.