ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A woman is in critical condition after she was struck by a bullet fired by a man in the apartment next door during an argument, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office (ACSO).
The shooting happened around 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 2 at an apartment in the 6800 block of South Ivy Way.
ACSO received an initial call about the shooting and a second call from Mickel McLean who was in the adjacent apartment. McLean told investigators that he was involved in an argument and the gun he was holding went off. He said the bullet went through the wall into the next door unit and struck the victim, according to ACSO.
The victim was taken to Littleton Hospital where she remains in critical condition, according to the sheriff's office. According to an arrest affidavit, the victim was hit in the back of the head.
That same document says that Mickel was arguing with his girlfriend. Both of them initially said that during the argument the two of them began pulling on an armful of clothes Mickel was carrying, the affidavit says. While they were pulling on the clothes, the gun discharged, they said, according to the document.
When interviewed separately, his girlfriend told a different story, the affidavit says.
She said that Mickel told her to tell "the story of the accidental discharge" but that "did not really happen," according to the affidavit.
She went on to say that as they argued Mickel "charged" her as she stood in the bedroom closet and then struck her in the face, the affidavit says. The investigator noted in the report that the woman had small scrapes on her face and her lip appeared slightly swollen.
At that time, she said, Mickel grabbed a handgun pointed it at her from several feet away, and fired a single shot, the affidavit says. She reported that she still felt it was "accidental", the affidavit says, because he did something similar about a year earlier and "feels he was just trying to scare her," according to the affidavit.
McLean has been charged with the following felonies:
- First-degree assault - Extreme Indifference
- Second-degree assault
- Menacing
- Illegal discharge of a firearm
McLean was also charged with four misdemeanors. They are:
- Third-degree assault
- Reckless Endangerment(three counts)
McLean is being held in the Arapahoe County Detention Center on $50,000 bond.
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