Charges: Son, upset about bedbugs, killed mother

MINNEAPOLIS - (AP) - Prosecutors allege a 62-year-old Minneapolis man killed his 89-year-old mother because he was upset about bedbugs in her downtown Minneapolis apartment.

The Hennepin County Attorney's office charged Michael Gallagher with second-degree murder in the death of Patricia Ann Gallagher. He makes his first court appearance Tuesday.

The complaint alleges Gallagher had been to his mother's apartment Thursday to help her with cleaning. On Friday morning, Gallagher called 911 and told a dispatcher he had killed his mother.

According to a county release, Gallagher told police he was despondent about bedbugs in the apartment because he could not exterminate them.

Gallagher said he grabbed a sculpture of himself and started beating his mother with it. The complaint says he also tried to smother her with a pillow and strangle her.