MARTIN COUNTY — A fight between brothers over a game of pool ended with the men's father shooting and killing one of his sons Sunday morning in Stuart.

Joseph Maloney, 30, was killed by his father, John Maloney, 56, after Joseph got into a confrontation with his younger brother James Maloney, 26.

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said both brothers had consumed alcohol prior to the fight.

Snyder said during a press conference Sunday afternoon that John Maloney was not arrested and has not been charged since the shooting is being considered an act of protecting his younger son from great bodily harm or death.

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"The sibling's father, who turned out to be our shooter in this case, is 56-year-old James Maloney, who said he verbally intervened in an attempt to get the older sibling Joseph off of James, but he was unable to do so," Snyder said. "At one point the parents heard their younger son pleading for his brother to stop choking him because he couldn't breathe."

Snyder said Joseph Maloney continued to strangle his younger brother with one arm and had a knife in the other hand. At that point, John Maloney took out his revolver and shot Joseph Maloney multiple times, Snyder said.

The agency received a call at 5:47 a.m. from the brother's mother, saying Joseph Maloney was acting "irrational and needs to be Baker Acted," Snyder said.

The sheriff's office then received another call shortly after from the brother's mother, saying one of her sons had been shot.

When deputies arrived at the family's home, located in the 900 block of Southwest Bromelia Terrace in Stuart, they said Joseph Maloney was already dead and had been shot several times.

"The physical evidence and the witness statements indicate that at the time of the incident, Mr. Maloney believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent the death or great bodily injury to his younger son," Snyder said.

The family told deputies Joseph Maloney recently was going through a lot of stress due to a trial that was coming up that involved the 30-year-old being arrested in 2015 on charges of DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide, Snyder said.

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"He (the father) was shattered," Snyder said. "I don't know that there's any way for me to adequately describe the look on his face."