An Oklahoma man has been charged with first-degree manslaughter after authorities said a bullet fired during target practice in his yard struck and killed a neighbor who was sitting on a front porch with a child, according to court records and a sheriff’s affidavit.
Prosecutors charged Cody Wayne Adams, 33, in Stephens County on Friday. The charge followed deputies’ response on Christmas Day, when they were called to a home north of Comanche after Sandra Phelps was shot, the sheriff’s affidavit said.
Deputies said Phelps was sitting on the front porch and holding a child when she was hit. Witnesses told investigators that Phelps said “ouch” before collapsing, according to the affidavit.
Investigators determined that Phelps suffered a gunshot wound, and deputies said she was pronounced dead about 20 minutes after they received the call, the affidavit states. The affidavit places the fatal shooting in close proximity to where deputies later found Adams shooting in his yard, which investigators said was about a half-mile away.
Authorities said Adams told them he had recently bought himself a .45-caliber handgun, which he had been shooting at a can in his yard. When deputies told Adams they suspected he shot Phelps, Stephens County Sheriff’s Capt. Timothy Vann wrote that Adams “became visibly upset and began to cry” in the affidavit.
Court records show Adams was booked into jail and later released on a $100,000 bond. The records also say he is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 25, and he was ordered to have no contact with Phelps’ family, as described in the charging paperwork.
Adams’ attorney, Carl Buckholts, did not immediately respond to a telephone message left Monday, the case reporting said. Under Oklahoma law, first-degree manslaughter is a homicide committed without a “design to effect death” while a person is engaged in the commission of a misdemeanor.
The charging documents allege Adams engaged in conduct with a firearm that demonstrated a “conscious disregard for the safety of others,” described as a misdemeanor crime in Oklahoma. Prosecutors said that allegation is the basis for the first-degree manslaughter charge, which carries a potential sentence of up to life in prison.