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A mom of three was in bed with her boyfriend and one of their children when she was shot in the head by a stray bullet, according to local news reports.
It wasn’t until their alarm went off that Ricardo Lung noticed his longtime girlfriend had been killed, KHOU reported.
He called for help at about 6 a.m. Wednesday, May 10, according to a news release from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. He reported that Bethany Mefford was unresponsive and had a gunshot wound “that originated from the outside wall of their bedroom.”
Responding deputies found Mefford in an apartment at Generation Grove in Humble, where she was pronounced dead, according to the release.
About four hours earlier, at about 2:30 a.m., authorities said several people were seen breaking into vehicles parked at the apartment complex.
Darius Lewis, a resident who lives across the lot from Mefford, “observed this and went outside in the parking and fired his pistol multiple times at the suspects breaking into the vehicles,” authorities said. Two adults and one juvenile were arrested.
Patrol deputies interviewed Lewis, and the man said he “only fired his gun into the ground to scare the burglary suspects,” according to the release.
But after investigating the shooting, Lewis was arrested and charged with manslaughter in the death of his neighbor, authorities said.
“The defendant discharged his weapon several times at the suspects attempting to steal his catalytic converters,” prosecutors said, according to KTRK. “One of the rounds fired impacted the exterior wall of the complainant’s apartment, ultimately striking (Mefford), and causing her death.”
He is being held on a $75,000 bail, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“This person was not out and about, not doing anything that would put her in harm’s way,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the newspaper. “She was just sleeping like any of us would do. And we see what can happen when people just fire gunshots like that.”
“Nothing will ever be the same,” her aunt, Georgette Watson Philp, said on Facebook.
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