A North Carolina woman is behind bars this week after a 911 call about a supposed accident led to a second-degree murder charge.
On Friday, May 8, Union County deputies rushed to a home on the outskirts of Monroe following a 2:26 p.m. call from 74-year-old Patty Griffin, who claimed she had unintentionally shot her husband.
While Griffin told dispatchers that she had struck her husband, Dennis Griffin, in the shoulder by mistake, the first responders arriving found a much more dire situation.
Life-saving efforts revealed that the victim had been shot in the chest, a detail that immediately raised red flags for the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
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Detectives digging into the case soon uncovered a history of friction. According to investigators, the couple had been embroiled in a heated argument regarding “past events” just before the weapon was fired.
Police now allege that Griffin didn’t just stumble into a tragedy; instead, they claim she retrieved a .38-caliber handgun, leveled it at her husband, and pulled the trigger.
The investigation further suggests that Griffin tried to hide or discard evidence in the moments before police pulled into the driveway. Following these findings, authorities shifted the case from a tragic accident to a criminal homicide.
Griffin was booked into the Union County Detention Center, where she remains held without bond.
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