A Pottstown woman has been charged with murder after accidentally shooting her ex, DA says
Denajah Bailey told police she believed a 9mm Glock handgun was unloaded when she pointed it at Xavier Jeffers, according to the affidavit of probable cause for her arrest.
A Pottstown woman playing with a loaded gun accidentally shot her ex-boyfriend in the head, killing him, Montgomery County prosecutors said Wednesday.
Denajah Bailey, 20, was charged with third-degree murder and related crimes in the May 20 death of Xavier Jeffers. Investigators wrote in court filings that Bailey demonstrated “a blatant disregard for human life” when she pointed a gun at Jeffers, thinking it was unloaded, and pulled the trigger.
The firearm, a Glock 43x 9mm handgun, was not empty of bullets, and Jeffers was pronounced dead by medics who responded to Bailey’s home on West Street after the shooting.
Bailey remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $5,000 bail. There was no indication she had hired an attorney.
She was arrested alongside the gun’s owner, Amaury Sahad, who has been charged with receiving stolen property and weapons offenses in connection with gun, which had been reported stolen in Philadelphia, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
Sahad, 20, initially told police he had found the gun abandoned near a Sunoco gas station in Pottstown, the affidavit said. But text messages found on his phone showed he had posed for pictures with the gun weeks before the shooting, and had bragged about acquiring it to his friends.
Sahad told police he, Bailey, and Jeffers were sitting in Bailey’s apartment moments before the shooting, the affidavit said. As Sahad’s back was turned, he heard a gunshot and turned to see Jeffers lying unresponsive on a bed.
Bailey, he told police, said she “didn’t mean to do it,” according to the affidavit.
In a later interview, Bailey admitted to pulling the trigger, and said she had been handling the gun earlier that day. She told police she had pulled the trigger twice before the shooting, including once while pointing the weapon at her own head, and nothing had happened.
She believed the gun was still unloaded when she turned it toward Jeffers, she said.
