Man fatally shot girlfriend packing to leave, AZ officials say. He’s sentenced
A man fatally shot his girlfriend as she spoke with a domestic violence shelter and was packing to leave her apartment, Arizona prosecutors say.
Jermaine Houston, 40, was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the 2022 death of his girlfriend, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said in an Oct. 17 news release.
Houston’s sentencing comes after he was convicted of multiple charges, including first-degree murder, prosecutors said.
Attorney information for Houston was not immediately available.
“Domestic violence destroys families in an instant,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in the release. “Too often, children are left to carry the trauma of what they’ve witnessed, and survivors face impossible choices about their safety.”
Police responded to a Phoenix apartment after getting “reports of threats involving firearms” in August 2022, prosecutors said.
When officers arrived, they saw Houston run inside the apartment, then heard gunshots, prosecutors said.
Through an investigation, police learned that a friend came to the apartment to help Houston’s girlfriend pack her things to leave, prosecutors said.
At some point while they were packing, prosecutors said, Houston pointed a gun at his girlfriend.
The friend intervened, convincing Houston to put the gun away, according to the district attorney’s office.
As the friend tried to calm Houston on the patio, officers arrived at the apartment complex, prosecutors said.
When Houston saw the officers, prosecutors said he “went back inside and shot (his girlfriend) as she was packing and speaking with a domestic violence shelter to find a safe place to stay.”
The woman’s four children fled the apartment unharmed; however, “their mother was found critically injured from numerous gunshot wounds,” prosecutors said.
Houston’s girlfriend was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.
Police later found Houston hiding in a nearby chicken coop, according to court documents obtained by Arizona’s Family.
Houston told detectives in an interview that he didn’t understand why he was arrested and that “he didn’t have a girlfriend,” documents say, the outlet reported.
In addition to murder, prosecutors said Houston was also convicted of kidnapping and aggravated assault.
