A man who shot three of his family members at his Point Loma home — killing his sister and his nephew, as well as seriously injuring his mother — was convicted Jan. 23 of first-degree murder.
William Bushey, 61, was found guilty by a San Diego jury of murdering his sister, Laurie Robinson, 61, and her son, Brett Robinson, 33, during a shooting Aug. 21, 2024, at his Zola Street home that also seriously wounded his then-86-year-old mother, June Bushey, who was shot in the chest and lost three fingers on her right hand.
William Bushey had been living at the home with his mother for about 15 years when his sister moved in following a sudden separation from her husband. The shooting occurred nine days after Laurie Robinson moved in.
Bushey is slated to be sentenced in February and could face up to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Deputy Public Defender Denis Lainez conceded that his client committed the shootings but said he was provoked by what the attorney described as a campaign by Bushey’s sister to oust him from the home.
Lainez told jurors that amid the mounting pressures affecting Bushey — including the prospect of homelessness while suffering from ongoing physical and mental health issues — he committed the shootings while “full of emotion and free of thought.”
The killings represented “60 years of emotion, anger and resentment [that] exploded into seconds of unthinkable violence,” Lainez said.
Deputy District Attorney Scott Pirrello told jurors that Bushey had a history of acting hostile toward family members and that his sister’s abrupt presence in the home set him off, leading him to act out and her to fear for her safety.
The prosecutor said Laurie and her mother undertook several safety measures out of fear, such as removing knives from the home, changing the locks and, finally, pursuing a restraining order against Bushey and taking steps to evict him.
Police were called to the home twice to respond to reports of angry outbursts from Bushey, once after the knives were removed and once after the locks were changed, which reportedly led Bushey to break off a doorknob to enter the house. Officers determined no crimes had been committed and Bushey was not arrested either time.
Hours before the killings, the internet was shut off at the home to relocate its Wi-Fi router from Bushey’s bedroom to his mother’s room, which Pirrello said prompted Bushey to angrily confront an AT&T technician at the house.
Pirrello described Bushey as an isolated man who spent an inordinate amount of time alone playing computer games in his room, and the internet disconnection was potentially the final straw.
A short time later, Laurie was gunned down on the back patio and Brett Robinson — who texted a friend that he needed to go to the home because his uncle was acting “extra sketchy” — was shot in the kitchen.
June Bushey fled the home after she was shot, leaving a blood trail out of the house.
William Bushey called 911 after the shootings and told a dispatcher that he had shot his sister and nephew. Officers found him sitting on the front doorstep with his hands raised in the air.