A man is accused of killing his half-sister in Michigan amid a dispute over the business they shared.
Zachary Holston III, 50, appeared at a court hearing Wednesday pleading not guilty to the death of Rita Evans.
The man was charged with second degree murder and weapons possession.
Bail was set at $500,000.
The man’s defense, led by Gerald Evelyn, alleged that he took actions to prevent the confrontation from escalating.
The Fox 2 Detroit report notes that Macomb County Assistant Attorney Steve Fox took into account the self-defense allegation to authorize the charges.
“The defendant turned the verbal into something much worse. And this included shoving a young woman who was trying to intervene between Rita and the defendant; pulling the gun out of her when Rita didn’t have one in her hand, she was in her purse; pointing the gun at Rita as she pulled the gun out of hers in self-defense,” Fox posed.
The events were reported on May 26, at about 9 am, when the man was leaving the business in the city of Sterling Heights, north of Detroit, and approached his vehicle.
The half-sister allegedly approached him through the passenger door. The woman was with her husband and her daughter at the time of the incident.
The two got into an argument over company-related paperwork, documents that were in the man’s car. The event escalated to the attack with a weapon.
Holston was the CEO of Kath Khemicals, while Evans was the CFO.