Wife was angry her husband left a 9mm unsecured where kids could reach. Then she shot him to teach him a lesson
Some lessons come at a cost
Leaving a gun where a child can reach it is an obvious danger. One Pennsylvania woman had reportedly warned her husband about that for years, fearing something bad could eventually happen.
Her concern was understandable. Children have gotten hold of guns that adults failed to secure, sometimes with devastating consequences. However, an argument over that same danger allegedly took a deadly turn inside Dawn Marie Freeman’s home.
According to Law&Crime, the 44-year-old came home on Oct. 4 and found her husband’s 9mm handgun on the living room coffee table. She allegedly confronted 40-year-old Bradley Freeman about leaving it where children could reach it. What happened next left him dead.
That wasn’t how this was supposed to go
Dawn reportedly told investigators that Bradley had a habit of leaving his handgun unsecured. According to a probable cause affidavit, she claimed this had been happening for at least two years despite her repeatedly asking him to keep the weapon somewhere children could not access it.
That concern reportedly surfaced again when she spotted the gun on the coffee table. Dawn allegedly confronted her husband and asked him to move it somewhere safe, but investigators say Bradley refused.
She reportedly became angry, picked up the handgun, and pointed it at his chest. Dawn allegedly told investigators that she then pulled the trigger to “show him a lesson” about leaving the firearm unsecured.
Bradley fell face down on the living room floor after being shot, according to authorities. Dawn allegedly threw the weapon across the room and screamed.
Her son, who was home at the time, began performing CPR on Bradley while Dawn called 911. Emergency personnel responded to the home in the 300 block of Mine Road in Adams Township, where Bradley was pronounced dead.
Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees performed an autopsy the following day. He determined that Bradley died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Dawn’s account to detectives makes the circumstances particularly difficult to reconcile. She reportedly told them that she had “begged” Bradley for years to stop leaving the firearm in unsafe places because she feared “something bad would happen.”
Unsafe gun storage can create risks even in places where children are supposed to be protected. A school superintendent was charged after allegedly leaving a loaded gun in an elementary school bathroom, highlighting just how quickly access to a firearm can become a serious safety issue.
Yet prosecutors allege Dawn did more than move the gun away from children. She allegedly picked it up, pointed it directly at another person, and fired it. Whatever disagreement existed over Bradley’s handling of the weapon, authorities now say the argument ended with the very danger Dawn claimed she had spent years trying to prevent.
Pennsylvania State Police said officers were called to the residence at around 6:37 p.m. for a death investigation. Local police had requested their assistance.
Dawn was taken into custody and charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and recklessly endangering another person. She appeared for her arraignment Monday morning and was ordered held without bond at Cambria County Prison.
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