Broken Arrow homeowner killed by soon-to-be-evicted tenant, court documents say
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — New information reveals what led to the murder of a man in Broken Arrow Sunday night.
Broken Arrow police arrested Cody O'Bryan, 21, on Monday in connection to the death of Paul Bernius IV, 46.
Court documents show Bernius owned the home near 111th and Elm and rented rooms to O'Bryan and two others.
The roommates told police Bernius and O'Bryan had several disagreements over the past few months.
Police said Bernius had filed a report against O'Bryan on Sept. 5, saying he'd kept three cats in his room at the house and had failed to replace a door knob. Documents also show that O'Bryan threatened Bernius.
At 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, officers were called to the home for a disturbance between O'Bryan, Bernius, and a friend of Bernius'. Police said Bernius was in the process of evicting O'Bryan from the home.
According to the documents, the roommates told police, later that night, the two men got into an argument on the back porch about O'Bryan changing the thermostat setting.
Bernius allegedly pushed O'Bryan into the garage and locked him out of the house. O'Bryan walked back to the porch, where the two got into a physical fight.
The roommates said during the fight, O'Bryan pulled a handgun from his waistband and shot Bernius multiple times, killing him.
While they called 911, the roommates said O'Bryan grabbed his keys from inside the home, hugged one of them goodbye, told him he loved him, then left the scene.
