Son’s punch sends father to hospital, where he died. Now the son faces murder charge

A fight in an Avenal home last week between a father and his son has turned into a homicide after the father died, police report.

The fight took place Wednesday at a home in the 300 block of Monterey Street in Avenal.

Michael Barriga, 27, of Visalia, and his father, 51-year-old Augustine Barriga, were fighting in the living room of the father’s home when the younger man punched his father, police said.

Augustine Barriga fell backward and hit his head on the corner of a plaster wall, said Avenal police Chief Russell Stivers.

Augustine Barriga was taken to a hospital and Michael Barriga left the scene.

On Friday, Michael Barriga turned himself in at the Avenal Police Department and was booked on suspicion of battery, Stivers said.

Augustine Barriga died on Sunday in Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Stivers said.

The charge against Michael Barriga was changed to suspicion of second-degree murder after his father’s death, Stivers said.

The murder was the first in 2017 in Avenal and the first since a double homicide last November, the chief said.

Michael Barriga remains in Kings County Jail.

This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Son’s punch sends father to hospital, where he died. Now the son faces murder charge."