A 39-year-old woman who fatally shot her boyfriend in her southeast Minneapolis home is claiming the gun went off accidentally, according to a criminal complaint.
Janice L. Hawkins-Greene was charged Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree manslaughter in connection with the shooting Monday in the 2400 block of SE. Cole Avenue.
Hawkins-Greene was arrested Monday afternoon soon after the killing and remains jailed in lieu of $150,000 bail ahead of a court hearing Friday afternoon. Court records do not list an attorney for her.
A call to 911 sent police to the home. They said they saw Hawkins-Greene and the man's mother sitting on the porch and the man on his back with an apparent gunshot wound to his abdomen.
The man was taken by emergency responders to HCMC and died there. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office has yet to release his identity.
Hawkins-Greene said she and her boyfriend were arguing, and the handgun discharged accidentally as she was handing it to him. She said her daughter put the gun under a bed, where police recovered the weapon.
The man's mother said she was in the living room and heard the two arguing for about 15 minutes followed by a gunshot. The mother then called 911.
Hawkins-Greene's 15-year-old daughter told police that her mother told the man to pack up his possessions and leave the house.
Hawkins-Greene said to police that she and the man had been in a relationship for about two years. She said she went to her vehicle to get his sweatshirt, other items and a gun to give to him.
As they stood on the porch, she explained, she shoved the gun and the sweatshirt toward him, and it went off.
The gun was equipped with two safeties that are designed to make accidental shootings less likely. Both have to be fully depressed before it will fire, the complaint explained.
During a second interview, Hawkins-Greene acknowledged holding the gun by the grip with her finger on the trigger as the barrel was pointed at her boyfriend when it fired.
Monday's homicide is the city's 62nd homicide of the year, according to a Star Tribune database.
Paul Walsh is a general assignment reporter at the Star Tribune. He wants your news tips, especially in and near Minnesota.
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