NOT EXACTLY A BONNIE AND CLYDE MOMENT

Woman kills boyfriend while posing with rifle for Bonnie and Clyde-like Snapchat, police say

By Mark D. Wilson

Austin Statesman
January 15, 2019

AUSTIN, Texas -- A woman who fatally shot a man in North Austin two days before Christmas was posing with a rifle for Snapchat when she accidentally pulled the trigger, according to an arrest affidavit filed on Monday.

Autumn King, 20, has been charged with manslaughter in connection with the death of 26-year-old Eric Charles Allen, police said.

According to the affidavit, King and Allen had been dating for two years before the shooting. They had a child together and lived with each other in the 12500 block of Rampart Drive, where the shooting happened around 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 23, police said.

“Autumn stated that she was holding a tan assault rifle and that Eric was holding Autumn’s cell phone because he was going to take a picture of her holding the assault rifle,” the affidavit said. King told officers she had the rifle pointed towards Allen and that “the assault rifle ‘went off.’ ”

The affidavit said the bullet struck Allen in the chest.

According to the report, King told investigators that she thought Allen was playing around and told him to get up. But when she realized that he was bleeding from his nose and mouth, she tried to drag him out to a car but couldn’t.

“Autumn stated that she ran outside and screamed for help and then went back inside and called 911 from her cell phone,” the affidavit said.

Allen was pronounced dead a few minutes after medics arrived.

During a police interview shortly after the incident, King told authorities that she and Allen had argued earlier in the day, and that Allen frequently left guns around the house where kids could access them.

She said she picked up a black rifle and put it behind the couch, then grabbed the tan rifle.

That’s when Allen asked if she wanted to take a picture with it, the affidavit said.

“Autumn stated that she did not intend to pull the trigger and that she put her finger lightly on the trigger,” the affidavit said. “Autumn went on to say that she was trying to be like Bonnie and Clyde. Autumn said that her dad always told her never touch a gun, ‘I didn’t listen.’ ”