The figure that he felt sleeping next to him turned out to be his dog.
A husband saw his life come to an end as he watched his pregnant wife die in front of him. In the incident that took place in Stuart, Florida, a man woke up in the middle of the after hearing a sound. He took his handgun and shot the person he thought was an intruder. But that was far from who the individual really was.
The man was awakened by a sound right outside his door at around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 4. The man first checked beside him if his wife was sleeping or not. Believing she was there, he reached for his handgun and went outside of his room to check for the sound.
He took a shot at a shadowy figure that he saw. Unfortunately, it was his wife whom he mistook as the intruder. The six-month-pregnant wife was fatally injured by the gunshot. In the incident that can be best described as an accident, the man had failed to realize that his wife had gotten out of bed, reported People.
Florida deputies say a man thought he was defending his home from an intruder overnight, but instead shot and killed his pregnant wife.
— WEAR ABC 3 (@weartv) November 5, 2020
https://t.co/QhZhv7FxrJ
In a report obtained by the outlet, the police revealed that the distressed man was shirtless and dressed only in white boxers and as he held his 2-year-old son close to him, he shouted "Help me please, help me!" in the 911 call he made. "I just shot my wife. My life is over," he continued.
Cited by Tampa Bay Times, the Associated Press reported that Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told news outlets, “This is a nightmare case." He added, “You know somebody who thinks he’s defending his home, actually shoots his wife.”
Even though the wife, who had suffered a shot in the head and was taken to the hospital, could not survive, there was one not so bad news for the husband. By some miracle and the hard work of the doctors who were treating the mother, doctors were able to save the unborn child of the couple, reported WPBF.
The sheriff told CBS12 that the husband was "extremely distraught" when he called 911. "What he clearly said was, 'I shot my wife by accident,'" said the sheriff and continued, "It was hard to listen to. It was a man clearly in horrible anguish. Extremely distraught."
He added, "He was asleep, thought there was an intruder in the house, heard noises, reached over to feel for his wife, and unfortunately he felt (what) turned out to be his dog."
Although the authorities are doing a thorough investigation, they believe that this crime was an accident because there have been no prior reports of disturbances from the couple's home.
Sheriff Snyder said, “He gave us a pretty in-depth statement, in which he said that he awoke in the middle of the night, thought he heard somebody in the house, went to investigate with a handgun, saw a shape in the hallway and fired one round and unfortunately, it turned out to be his wife."
Explaining why they're conducting an investigation, the sheriff added, “So, though we do have a good statement from him, we don’t take anything to face value and we’ll continue investigating through all backgrounds; there’s a lot of investigative steps that we’ll have to make sure that he’s telling the truth."
Fortunately, the couple's other child, a 2-year-old son, wasn't hurt and was safe.
The sheriff had a message for all the gun owners. He said, "If you keep a gun within easy access because you think you might need it to protect your home, you have to be extremely careful," and added, "When you make that decision to pull that trigger, you’ve got know what you’re shooting at, who you’re shooting at.”
References:
https://people.com/crime/florida-man-shoots-pregnant-wife-thinking-intruder/?
https://www.wpbf.com/article/martin-county-man-shoots-kills-pregnant-wife/34577064#
https://cbs12.com/news/local/martin-county-man-fatally-shoots-wife-mistaking-her-for-an-intruder
