By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
August 24, 2011

What began as an argument between a man and his mother-in-law, turned into a deadly dispute.

Kimberly Groves-Smith was upstairs in her home at 3534 E. St. John Ave. on Aug. 22, when she heard a commotion. When she walked downstairs, she found her mother lying on the kitchen floor bleeding from a gunshot wound.

Groves-Smith’s husband, Michael S. Tittone, 27, told his wife and another witness he just shot his mother-in-law, 52-year-old Paemla J. Groves. The 52-year-old was transported to Truman Medical Center, but later died from her injuries.

Tittone has been charged with second degree murder and armed criminal action and is currently in custody with a bond set at $250,000.

According to court documents, when police officers took Tittone into custody, he “spontaneously told them how he shot his mother-in-law.”

Tittone told officers he and his mother-in-law began arguing and that she punched him. He then grabbed his gun and shot her, he told officers.