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Roger Albert Schweda, 40, of Jackson County, Michigan, was charged in December 2024 in the shooting deaths of his mother, Shari Schweda, 70, and a neighbor, Thomas Farnsworth, 57, at the family home on Welch Lake Road in Leoni Township. Reporting does not give a motive.

At his arraignment on Monday, December 9, 2024, Schweda was charged with two counts of open murder and two counts of felony firearm, which carry a possible life sentence. Judge Allison L. Bates of the 12th District Court denied bond, citing public safety, and granted a request for a competency examination. His next court date was set for January 3, 2025.

Shortly before 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 7, 2024, officers from the Blackman-Leoni Department of Public Safety were sent to the 6900 block of Welch Lake Road for a welfare check. According to reporting on the arraignment, Farnsworth had received a voicemail from Schweda saying he could not go into his home because his mother was dead. Farnsworth called police for a welfare check, then went to the residence to give dispatchers the exact address. From the driveway, he called again and said Schweda was pulling up. A gunshot was heard on the call, and Farnsworth stopped responding.

Officers found Farnsworth dead in the driveway and Shari Schweda dead in her bedroom after searching the property. The prosecutor called the bedroom a "gruesome scene." Police initially did not say how they died; later reports said both had been shot. Shari Schweda's vehicle was missing. A license plate reader located it in the Village of Brooklyn, heading into Columbia Township. When Columbia Township police tried to stop it, the driver fled briefly, then stopped and was taken into custody. Police identified him as Schweda.

Schweda was held at the Jackson County jail while the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office reviewed charges. The Blackman-Leoni Department of Public Safety Detectives Bureau led the investigation with help from the Michigan State Police Crime Lab. Police said they believed it was an isolated incident with no threat to the public. Investigators interviewed Schweda that afternoon; a police body camera in the room was stamped December 7, 2024, about 3:30 p.m. He was read his rights, said he understood them and was asked to sign an acknowledgment form.

In the recording, Schweda says he shot his mother, and that he shot the neighbor because the neighbor came at him with a knife; no report supports that claim. He describes a 12-gauge shotgun, says he had been drinking that day and the night before, and says he drove off because he was scared. Near the end, he says he will stay silent until he sees a lawyer, and the questioning stops.

No later ruling on his competency or on the charges has been reported. Schweda is presumed innocent. As of November 1, 2026, he is charged with two counts of open murder and two counts of felony firearm, and no plea, verdict or sentence has been reported.