A woman accused of fatally shooting her 51-year-old boyfriend with a pellet gun in Graham on Wednesday believed he was cheating on her.
Nicole Lynn Johnson, 49, was charged Friday with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and fourth-degree assault, court records show. A plea of not guilty was entered on her behalf and her bail was set at $750,000.
Johnson told detectives that she did not know the gun was loaded before she fired at her boyfriend during an argument Wednesday night at their home. The victim's identity has yet to be released by the Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office.
Pierce County deputies were dispatched to the 25300 block of 52nd Avenue East at 6:37 p.m. regarding an accidental shooting with a pellet gun. When they arrived, Johnson was performing CPR. The man was taking "agonal" breaths and there was blood in his mouth, according to charging documents.
Johnson said earlier that day she learned her boyfriend had been romantically involved with others. She confronted him at work. After the man returned home, she allegedly shot him with the pellet gun. The woman said she could not believe the gun was loaded and that she was a "moron" for messing around with it, prosecutors wrote.
When Johnson learned he did not survive, she asked a deputy to shoot her. She was then taken into custody, documents show.
Neighbors told police that the couple had moved into the home six months earlier, and they reportedly argued a lot. At one point, a neighbor overheard the woman accusing the man of cheating on her. The night of the shooting, a neighbor saw the man running out of the trailer and yelling, "Call 911, she shot me." Johnson ran behind and said, "Knock it off, it was just a BB gun," documents show.
When the man started bleeding from his mouth, the neighbor said that Johnson panicked and call 911. She said she did not know it was loaded and apologized to the man, prosecutors wrote. Video footage from the victim's work showed Johnson walking to the back of the business yard. From her mannerisms and movement, it appeared she was angry.
Employees overheard Johnson saying she was going to tell all his friends and family what he had been doing. She then slapped him across the face, prosecutors wrote. The man did not react and Johnson reportedly told him not to come home.
Documents say that the medical examiner retrieved the metal pellet from his left lung. His cause of death was determined to be exsanguination, which means blood loss. There were some bruises and lacerations on his body. Another BB gun pellet was found in his body, but it was older and unrelated to the incident.
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