For some, winning the lottery doesn’t necessarily mean a better life. Such is the case of Freddie Young, aged 62, who managed to win a $46.5 million jackpot in February, at the Mega lottery. The man is part of a lottery club comprised of 13 members, and the prize was divided for all of them. However, Freddie Young stands accused of first degree murder, for the premeditated killing of GreG McNicol.
A preliminary hearing of witnesses revealed that young shot McNicol at point blank range after the Australian native had a fight with young’s granddaughter and daughter.
Young has been contributing $10 every week to his P1 Gold Lottery Club for 12 years until they managed to finally hit the jackpot. They went for the lump sum option, which landed them with $29 million, and once the taxes were paid, all members should have received about $1.57 million each.
Freddie Young had kept his job at the U.S. Post Office in Romulus and he decided against moving from his home, situated near the Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport. However, he did buy a couple of new cars, a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup and a Chevrolet Corvette.
Witnesses to the murder claim Young parked his car in front of the apartment building where the murder took place.
“The man said, ‘Watch your mouth.’ Greg said he wanted them out of my house,” tenant Leola Brown testified. “Then he shot him.”
Greg McNicol originated from Australia but was an American citizen who invested in properties, and he was apparently very kind and well-liked by his tenants. The murder came after McNicol had a fight with Young’s daughter, concerning the matter of a 2-month unpaid rent.
It is still unclear if Young travelled to the apartment building with the sole purpose of killing McNicol or if something happened there and pushed him over the edge.
The case represents one of the saddest lottery news we’ve had in ages. For a man to have a turn of luck like that is most tragic. One cannot say that Young had a good life before winning the lottery. He had a run-down home, a job that did not pay very well and problems with the family. But everyone expected something better after he had won the lottery. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be, and he may very well spend the rest of his days in jail.
