A 77-year-old Clovis woman is dead and her son arrested on a murder charge following an incident at a Clovis apartment early Thursday morning, police said.

Clovis police received a 911 call just after 2 a.m. from a man who said he had just killed his mother, spokeswoman Janet Stoll-Lee said. The man said he was armed.

At the apartment, near Barstow and Villa avenues, a man, later identified as Eric Tidrick, 49, came out with one arm behind his back and appeared to be holding a weapon, Stoll-Lee said. Officers determined the weapon was a drill, not a handgun.

As he moved toward officers, he was hit by an electronic stun dart fired by the officers, Stoll-Lee said. He was taken into custody and booked on a charge of murder.

The woman, identified as Ladonna Tidrick, 77, of Clovis, sustained injuries that included what appeared to be a small stab wound, Stoll-Lee said. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The exact cause of death is under investigation by the Fresno County Coroner's Office.

Eric Tidrick has had several brushes with the law, including a felony conviction for cultivation of marijuana in 2003. He pleaded no contest to charges of growing the marijuana and served several months in jail before he was put on probation and ordered to enroll in a program at Poverello House.

In 1995, he pleaded guilty to vandalism and was given a 30-day suspended sentence, fined $100 and ordered to pay $875 in restitution. He was charged with battery in 1996, but the case was dismissed. Later that year, he was convicted of driving under the influence, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $603. He was later referred to an adult-offender program in lieu of the jail term.