Mom learns of toddler's sex abuse, then shoots her boyfriend, Oklahoma cops say
The 31-year-old mother is facing charges of shooting with intent to kill, assault and battery and planning to perform an act of violence, according to court records filed in Woodward County.
McClatchy News is not identifying the woman to protect the identity of her son.
At about 5:30 a.m. on June 14, investigators say the woman shot her 35-year-old boyfriend while he was at a home in Mooreland with family, wounding him, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a July 25 news release.
The woman and her son's biological father were in the area of the shooting when it happened, investigation revealed, and they were later arrested, according to the OSBI.
McClatchy News reached out to an attorney representing the woman for comment July 30, but didn't immediately receive a response.
No attorney information was available forthe boyfriend.
Many in the community and on social media are voicing support for the mother, including commenters on the state Bureau's Facebook post, with one person writing, 'Let her go. She did what she should have.'
'Her only crime was having bad aim,' said another.
Kassandra Paulson, a friend ofthe mother, hopes that level of sympathy will be felt in the courtroom, too, she told KOTV.
'As a parent and having something like this happen to them, I hope they can understand, especially the jury of her peers, that she went insane,' Paulson told the station.
Two days before the shooting,the mother noticed her son had suffered injuries and she didn't know the cause, according to state investigators.
'She called me frantically, crying, freaking out. She told me something was wrong, she needed me to look at her son,' Paulson told KOTV. She didn't like what she saw, and she gave the woman and her son a ride to the hospital, the outlet reported.
It wasn't long before hospital staff contacted police, and then the OSBI got involved, officials said. Agents spoke with the mother.
An OSBI-ordered sexual assault examination found that her son's injuries 'were a result of trauma,' according to investigators.
Once her son was released from the hospital, and prior to the shooting, the mother 'physically assaulted (her boyfriend),' investigators said, adding that she also 'made multiple Facebook posts and utilized technology to make threats to (him).'
The boyfriend was injured in the shooting and taken to a hospital for treatment, the OSBI said. About two weeks later, on June 25, specialized medical staff reviewed evidence of the child's injuries, determined they resulted from abuse, and he was arrested on charges of sexual abuse of a child under 12, according to officials.
The boyfriend denied abusing the toddler, and told state investigators that while he did notice blood while changing the boy's diaper on June 10, he was afraid to say anything for fear it might lead to a DHS investigation, the Woodward News reported.
The bureau said the investigation is ongoing.
Mooreland is a roughly 140-mile drive northwest from Oklahoma City.
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