Woman dies after apparent accidental shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minn.
The focus of the investigation in Brooklyn Center seemed to be around a truck for a landscaping company. (FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man is charged with manslaughter after a woman shot in the head last week in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota has died, in what police believe was an accident.
According to the charges, Julius Smith, 24, fired the shot that mortally wounded a woman along the 5600 block of Girard Avenue North. At the time of the shooting, the victim was sitting in a truck near an intersection when she was shot in the back of the head.
The charges show police got two different stories from witnesses and Smith.
Witnesses told police that Smith was sitting in a vehicle behind the truck when the shot was fired, which witnesses described as an accident. The exact circumstances of the reported accident were not disclosed in the complaint.
When questioned by police, however, Smith claimed he was the victim of a robbery. According to the charges, Smith told officers two men approached his vehicle and pointed a gun at him. Smith claimed, thinking the gun was fake, he swiped at it which caused the gun to discharge, hitting the victim.
However, after reviewing nearby surveillance cameras, police say the video evidence disproved Smith's version of events.
Smith is currently being held at the Hennepin County Jail.