A Georgia preschool assistant has been accused of shooting dead her high school sweetheart in their home.
Mary Katherine Higdon, 24, was charged with murder after her 23-year-old boyfriend Steven Freeman was shot at their Griffin home last Wednesday.
Police were called to the couple’s home at about 10.42pm on August 1 where they found Freeman with a single gunshot wound to his chest.
He was rushed to the nearby Spalding Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Mary Katherine Higdon, 24, was charged with murder after her boyfriend Steven Freeman, 23, was shot at their home in Griffin, Georgia last Wednesday
Higdon allegedly told investigators that the shooting was an accident.
She said the gun discharged when she handed the gun to her boyfriend in a back room in their home.
Higdon, a preschool assistant, was charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime
But police said evidence from the scene showed that there was intent to kill, WSBTV reports.
Investigators reported allegedly smelling alcohol on Higdon’s breath and that she was mumbling at the scene.
She allegedly told them she didn’t know how the shooting happened because she didn’t keep rounds in the chamber.
Police had been called to the couple’s home five times in the past year, including once for domestic violence.
A close neighbor said the couple had been known to argue but that no one could have predicted the tragic outcome.
The neighbor described seeing an hysterical Higdon on the front porch as she told officers: ‘I didn’t mean to do it’.
Higdon had worked as a preschool assistant at St George’s Episcopal School in Griffin.
Police had been called to the couple’s home five times in the past year, including once for domestic violence. They had been together seven years
The couple had been together seven years and their families were said to be close.
An obituary for Freeman described him as living a life ‘full of loyalty, love, joy and compassion’.
‘He was a friend to everyone, especially if that friend loved fishing and hunting. He had a heart of gold, a bounce in his step, and a sweet Southern drawl,’ it read.
‘Steven showed his love for you through his belly laughs, big smiles, bear hugs, deer meat, always being there for you, and making you feel you were the only other person in the world. He was never afraid to tell you ‘I Love You’.’
His girlfriend was charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Police had been called to the couple’s home (pictured above) five times in the past year, including once for domestic violence