>
A 23-year-old woman has been charged with murder after the death of her boyfriend, Steven Freeman.
The woman, Mary Katherine Higdon, reportedly shot her 24-year-old boyfriend in the chest last Wednesday at their Griffin home in Georgia.
Neighbours called police to the couple’s home on August 1. On getting there 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.
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. But police said evidence from the scene showed that there was intent to kill.
Higdon and Freeman have been together for seven years and their families were said to be close.
A close neighbour said the couple had been known to argue but that no one could have predicted the tragic outcome. Police had been called to the couple’s home five times in the past year, including once for domestic violence.
Higdon was charged with murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.