Yakima woman mistakenly shot by husband dies
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - A Yakima woman who was mistakenly shot by her husband has died.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports 27-year-old McKaylee Higgs died Wednesday when she was taken off life support.
Yakima County Coroner Jack Hawkins says the gunshot wound in her neck caused fatal brain damage. She never regained consciousness. The coroner also said she was about 10 week pregnant.
Higgs was shot March 8 when her husband mistook her for an intruder in the bedroom of their Terrace Heights home.
Sheriff's Detective Stew Graham says it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether 25-year-old Cory Lindblom should be charged. He could be charged with reckless endangerment or negligent homicide.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports 27-year-old McKaylee Higgs died Wednesday when she was taken off life support.
Yakima County Coroner Jack Hawkins says the gunshot wound in her neck caused fatal brain damage. She never regained consciousness. The coroner also said she was about 10 week pregnant.
Higgs was shot March 8 when her husband mistook her for an intruder in the bedroom of their Terrace Heights home.
Sheriff's Detective Stew Graham says it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether 25-year-old Cory Lindblom should be charged. He could be charged with reckless endangerment or negligent homicide.
if it was really an accident leave it that way. they guy will suffer for the rest of his life. if there is proof it wasnt an accident charge him with a crime.
"Mistakenly" - yeah, sure... no one actually BELIEVES that nonsense, do they?
A tragic happening and a even more tragic ending. I can now hear all the "takem away mob" screaming that guns kill. I have yet see a gun kill anyone. It is the person pulling the trigger and nothing else that causes a persons death with a gun.
Yet another responsible gun owner... Shoot first ask questions later? Yeah, ok...
@what? Ah yes what would a story involving a firearm be without someone trying to malign responsible people because someone wasn't. You know, they have web sites dedicated to fallacious arguments. You should read one.
Where are the NRA leaders to march for gun safety?Â
@lakeview So you want the largest gun safety organization in the world to march too? Frankly I'd rather have them focusing on the actual safety classes and protecting our constitution rather than marching somewhere to make some weak minded people feel better.
I like your avatar...LOLÂ a monkey with a gun...
That is why it is vitally important to IDENTIFY the intruder. Most everyone does not want to shoot a family member...Â
RIP McKaylee.
Will be interesting to see if the Yakima prosecutors can come up with a charge that can be filed against her husband on this questionable accident.
Very sorry to hear she didnt make it. I was pulling for her...my condolences to the family.Â
Wow ... what has happened to our society... why are we so cruel and lacking in basic compassion ???? Â No one knows anything about who he is or what he experienced in his life. He might be suffering from PTSD and reacted ... and the big issue ... He shot is wife and killed his unborn baby ... does anyone think that maybe ... just possibly he is hurting and suffering because of what happened ... Â accidents do happen and rather than throwing him away in a prison cell or insulting him ... have a little sympathy for his losses !!!
Once again a foggy mind and a handy handgun = tragedy: a permanent solution to the temporary "problem" of an unidentified "intruder". Great job "protecting" his family!
I have a hard time with this...something doesn't sound right.
@Ray Ruserious Yeah! The dumb jerk fancied himself as Rambo - or maybe Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs! "There's something moving in my bedroom! Better shoot it!"
@JLS1950 Pure speculation.
@JLS1950@SeattleJoe"Decided to shoot and kill and unidentified target"
Pure stupidity, plain and simple. One should never fire at an unidentified target.
"The dumb jerk fancied himself as Rambo - or maybe Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs!"
Still characterizing him in a manner we have no idea whether or not he is that way.
"He could be getting away with first degree murder"
That agrees with my speculation as well, though she was pregnant so I'm less certain. Unless he recently found out the baby wasn't his etc, but then again speculation.Â
@SeattleJoe@JLS1950 "shot ... when her husband mistook her for an intruder in the bedroom of their ... home". So he woke up to an unknown noise and movement and decided it was appropriate to shoot and kill the unidentified target. That works in movies where guns shoot blanks - but not in bedrooms where your own wife might need to use the loo. Comparing the reckless idiot to Rambo or Riggs was pure grace - my own personal sense is that this could be getting away with first degree murder.Â
I know a guy who woke up, saw a shadow and blew the wall of his room to pieces.
Apparently he had taken a sleep medication and was experiencing hallucinations and paranoia caused by the meds.
Kind of makes me wonder if something like this could have happened? ? ?
@swansong68Â Blew a wall to pieces? That's the "SO Smart Joe Biden Method" of intrusion eradication.
i'm thinking maybe he didn't want a child or the messiness of child support, etc.
"Graham declined to elaborate on the scenario as described by Lindblom that would explain why he opened fire on his wife in her own bedroom, and neither he nor several other sheriffâs officials returned calls Thursday on the status of the investigation." (from the Yakima Herald article).
Without that information, it's impossible to make a guess. But, being as they are keeping the info that tightly controlled, I would guess they are considering charging him?
I knew a retired sheriff years ago, in another state, told me there was a case of a toddler out looking at the christmas tree early one morning and her mother shot her thinking it was an intruder. So, yes I do believe there are some that are that stupid. Scary stupid...  Â
@izwideopen How sad! Yes, statistics say that people are more likely to get hurt with a gun than hurt an intruder.
@the tide@izwideopenQuite true. But its just stating the case that when certain conditions exist a distribution of results will be statistically verifiable. Or to put it another way, using another example, statistics say that people are more likely to get into accidents when driving cars than when being a pedestrian. Whats even worse about the bad use of statistics here is the fact that the numbers are incomplete. The stats don't measure the actual use of firearms in a preventative role. They only measure when someone is killed. So entire body of firearm usage where there are no deaths is not present in the comparison that the "people are more likely to get hurt with a gun than hurt an intruder." making it a completely irrelevant due to its outright inaccuracy.
So he just suddenly awoke, grabbed the gun that must have been by his pillow and started shooting shadows...almost as believable as a double amputee, jumping out of bed, putting on his fake legs, walking to where his shotgun was, blasting shots thru the bathroom door because he heard a noise...all the while forgetting to even look at the other side of the bed to see if his wife was still laying there. Right. This is the new "insanity" plea...
And it's unbelievable all these things didn't happen in a "Trailer Trash" park, as so many think, only things like this happen in trailer parks..right?
ah, the KOMO conspiracy brigade....
perhaps it is just as reported? the man in question shot his wife by accident?
if so he will be visiting levels of grief he did not imagine existed.
@unobtanium the conspiracy theories start because it is hard to believe anyone was actually that stupid. The whole point of having a gun is to protect those you care about, so it seems odd he didn't know where she was before getting his gun out. Also odd that he shot at someone without having a good reason. Is it likely that she smashed a window in from outside, was walking around with a gun or knife, or was carrying a TV out the window? I hear people walking around my house all the time. Kids getting a snack, wife opening doors. I haven't shot any of them yet. I hope they test the baby's DNA.
@Watcher3 @unobtanium "the conspiracy theories start because it is hard to believe anyone was actually that stupid."
After watching reality TV and reading news sites regularly, do you really think it's hard to believe that people really are this stupid? Â Stupid seems to be pretty common these days.
@Watcher3
We have all done stupid things - we do not know the situation here, hence should not jump to conclusions making this man's life more unbearable if he is innocent of wrongdoing.
@unobtanium He deserves every second of the misery being so unimaginably stupid as to shoot his pregnant wife. No sympathy, idiots like this idiot should never possess firearms in the first place
We haven't heard the last of this story. Smells funny.
This guy needs to be charged with having an itchy trigger finger at least.
The husband should be charged and prosecuted.
Our own little Oscar Pistorius!