Antonio “AJ” Armstrong Jr., the son of former Miami football player Antonio Armstrong, is back on trial after being charged with killing his parents.
According to ABC News, AJ is set to appear on trial for a third time after two trials concluded in a hung jury. The young man has been accused of killing his father and mother. Dawn Armstrong was killed while asleep at their Houston home in 2016. That day, police received a call from the then-16-year-old, who told them he heard gunshots coming from his parents’ room. When paramedics arrived, they were found with gunshot wounds to their heads, leading authorities to believe their son was the gunman.
“AJ Armstrong has maintained his innocence in his parents’ 2016 deaths but remains charged following two criminal trials that have ended with hung juries,” the social media team for ABC’s 20/20 tweeted on January 7.
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Attached to the tweet was a clip from the show hosted by Matt Gutman, chronicling the tragic case from start to finish.
“There’s no way possible. I couldn’t even fathom the idea of killing my parents,” AJ explained to Gutman in last week’s interview. He reportedly told police officers that he saw someone in a mask in the home where the crime occurred.
“Yeah, like I saw him running. Like I saw him running,” the emotionless-looking boy told investigators during the 20/20 interview.
However, investigators didn’t believe him as they didn’t find any evidence of an intruder inside the residence. According to audio from the interview, no alarm went off at the time, and it was still armed when first responders showed up. Authorities say AJ disarmed the alarm so police could enter the house, court documents indicated.
Following the 2019 trial, jurors were deadlocked, and Judge Kelli Johnson declared a mistrial. On October 22, a second mistrial occurred, and the jury was deadlocked, with eight voting to acquit AJ and four to convict.
