The infamous drug that is bath salts has been taking center stage again as Benjamin Bishop high on bath salts murders his mom and her boyfriend in Florida.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, 18-year-old Benjamin Bishop high on bath salts murders his mom and her boyfriend in their Oldsmar, Florida home on Sunday. Bishop, who had a history of mental illness, battled with addiction and violence toward his mother, 49-year-old Imari Shibata.
At one point over the teens troubling years, Shibata and her popular swim coach boyfriend, 49-year-old Kelley Allen, were so concerned with their own safety that they removed all the knives from their home before Bishop returned in September from a 10-month stint at a rehab center.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, in the middle of the night, Shibata was startled by her son. Bishop, high on bath salts, was in her face holding a 12-gauge shotgun he bought through a friend. When Shibata asked what her son was doing, he responded by shooting her multiple times. Bishop also killed Shibata’s boyfriend in the process, as he fired eight rounds of gunshots in total.
After the shooting, Bishop called the police and confessed to the crime. Deputies arrived on the scene at 1:30 a.m. and arrested Bishop on two counts of murder in the first-degree. Bishop, a professionally diagnosed schizophrenic, was reportedly upset after an argument he had with his mother, where she insisted he take his medication regularly, get a job and start paying rent. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtier said on Sunday, ”Apparently, Benjamin became very upset with his mother because he didn’t like the medication. He felt that the medication was killing him. So he decided that he was going to kill his mother and her boyfriend.”
Bishop has a history of violent behavior toward his mother, where in 2011, he tried to strangle her and was on probation for that incident before he murdered his mother and her boyfriend.
photo by Pinellas Sheriff’s Office
Benjamin Bishop High on Bath Salts Murders His Mom and Boyfriend.
