A Georgia preschool assistant is accused of fatally shooting her longtime boyfriend, who was her high school sweetheart, according to officials.
Mary Katherine Higdon, 24, faces murder charges after she allegedly pulled the trigger Wednesday on 23-year-old Steven Freeman at their Griffin home, news station WSBTV reported.
Higdon claimed the shooting was an accident, but officials said the evidence suggested there was intent to kill.
Police were called to their home around 10:42 p.m. Wednesday on a report of gunfire. Freeman was rushed to Spalding Regional Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Neighbors said a hysterical Higdon was outside the home while officers were at the scene.
“She was out on the porch with the police officers and she said, she was crying, ‘I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean to do it,’” neighbor Jeanette Head told the news station.
Higdon, who is a teacher’s aide at St. George’s Episcopal School, told officers that the gun accidentally fired when she handed it to Freeman.
She was arrested on charges for murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
The couple had been dating for seven years and their families were close, even spending Christmas mornings together, according to the victim’s uncle.
“We’ve lost two people in this. We’ve lost Steven, but obviously our relationship will be changed with Mary Katherine and my heart goes out to the Higdon family because they are doing the same thing,” Freeman’s uncle, Josh Thacker, told the news station.