An Oklahoma man who was doing target practice with a recently purchased handgun in his backyard on Christmas Day is accused of shooting a woman sitting on her front porch a few blocks away while she was holding a child, authorities said.
Cody Wayne Adams, 33, was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of first-degree manslaughter in connection with the shooting, according to court records. He was later released on $100,000 bail, records show.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 25. CNN has reached out to Adams’ attorney for comment.
The woman, Sandra Phelps, was sitting with her family on the covered front porch of a home in Comanche, about 90 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, on Thursday afternoon when she was struck by a bullet in her right arm, an affidavit said. Phelps sat on a loveseat, holding a child in his left arm.
Family members told investigators they heard five to seven gunshots coming from somewhere on the north side of the house “over a period of several minutes,” the affidavit states. Phelps said someone in the neighborhood must have received “a new gun for Christmas,” documents state. Soon after, she collapsed with an “ouch!” No further gunshots were heard.
The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office said first responders were dispatched to the home around 3:15 p.m. Phelps was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later, according to the affidavit. Investigators said the bullet struck Phelps in the arm and entered her chest. No bullet strikes were found on the house, documents show.
Law enforcement officers searched the surrounding neighborhood and found a home less than a mile away from where Adams lived that lacked a proper shooting back-up, the affidavit said. Investigators learned neighbors “heard Adams fire approximately 20 rounds during the afternoon,” the document states.
When deputies arrived at Adams’ home, Adams told them he had been shooting “Red Bull cans on the ground” in his backyard with a Glock .45-caliber handgun he “bought for myself for Christmas,” the affidavit states.
Investigators found “several spent shell casings on the ground and deck” in Adams’ backyard, as well as a Red Bull can on the south side of the house. From the moment Adams said he fired at the can, the red and blue lights of the emergency vehicle at the home where Phelps was shot were “clearly consistent with the angle of the shooting,” the affidavit said.
When told that his shooting may have killed the woman, Adams “became visibly distraught and began to cry,” the affidavit states. An officer told him, “There’s nothing behind his property that would stop any bullet from going through his property and hurting someone.”
Adams was later informed of his rights during an interview with the Sheriff’s Office, where he allegedly admitted to firing multiple rounds south from his residence, using two magazines containing approximately eight and later 10 rounds of Winchester .45-caliber ammunition, documents state.
Charging documents allege that Adams used the firearm to cause the woman’s death in a manner that “created an unreasonable risk and likelihood of death to others or great bodily harm and demonstrated a conscious disregard for the safety of others.”
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