Saturday, February 25, 2012

Shiawassee County, MI: No Charges Yet for Woman Police Say Shot, Killed Husband

Thursday night was not the first time police responded to a domestic dispute at the same home on Laingsburg Road, but it may be the last.

"The worst case scenario that could happen happened. There had been a shooting," said Sheriff George Braidwood.

The 9-1-1 call came from a woman, but when deputies got there, they found her husband, 42-year-old Dean Watkins, shot dead. Sheriff Braidwood has no doubt she's the one who shot him, yet she has not been charged.

"It's a couple, two people that obviously aren't getting along, angry at each other and they don't like each other, and they have no conflict with anyone else," he said.

The woman spent the night at Shiawassee County Jail, but after meeting with the county prosecutor, the sheriff decided to release her.

"It's not like an angry serial killer or an armed robber who seeks out stores in the middle of the night and you don't know where he's going to go next. The domestics are isolated instances involving a very few number of people, usually two, and it starts and ends right there. It has nothing to do with the neighbors or anyone else in the community," said Sheriff Braidwood.

While it was scary seeing their neighborhood overtaken by cop cars and ambulances, the Dunns, who live in the area, aren't worried going forward.

"I was kind of frightened," said five-year-old Tucker Dunn.

"It doesn't happen very often," said Katelyn Dunn, his 12-year-old sister. "It's a quiet town."

It's rare not only there, but in any town, the sheriff says, for a domestic dispute to end in death.

The sheriff's office is still investigating the shooting and says certain items need to processed by the crime lab before the prosecutor can decide whether or not the woman will be charged.

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