YAKIMA, Wash. — A woman from Washington state is behind bars after police said she shot and killed her husband, who she claimed had kept her imprisoned in a Yakima home.
According to KIMA-TV, Yakima police arrested Kimberly Hansen, 41, on a second-degree murder charge after she called 911 shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday to say she had shot her husband, 51-year-old Walter Hansen, in the head. Emergency responders rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he died about an hour later, Yakima police said in a news release.
Kimberly Hansen told police that her husband had kept her bound to the bed, refused to let her out of the house, and forced her to take sleeping drugs and cocaine, KIMA reported.
She told officers that she had found the gun beside her husband while he was sleeping, according to the news station. She said the gun discharged as she and her husband struggled over it, accidentally striking him in the head, authorities said.
Walter Hansen previously was arrested on domestic violence charges against his wife, and a no-contact order had been issued to protect Kimberly Hansen, police said. Investigators, however, believe she deliberately shot her husband and did not find evidence that she had been tied to the bed, KIMA reported.
Kimberly Hansen is being held in the Yakima County Jail, authorities said.