A Center Grove area man who accidentally shot his wife while threatening to harm himself has been charged with a crime.
Stephen B. Keck, 45, has been charged with criminal recklessness committed with a deadly weapon. The charge is a level six felony, meaning he faces six months to two-and-a-half years in prison.
Keck told investigators that he was frustrated and depressed after having argued with his wife, Dawn Henderson, about their finances the night of Aug. 1. He went to the bedroom, grabbed a .38 caliber revolver and went to the living room with the intention of killing himself in front of his wife, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Keck, who had not checked to see whether the gun was loaded, stood at the opposite end of couch from his wife holding the gun in his right hand next to his head. He yelled at Henderson, saying “Will this make you happy?” when the gun went off, striking her through the neck, the affidavit said. Keck and Henderson both told investigators that he did not mean to shoot her.
He told deputies that he didn’t expect the gun to go off and that he wasn’t intentionally aiming it at Henderson. He didn’t initially know where the bullet had gone and went to the bathroom behind the couch to check on his 13-year-old son, the affidavit said.
When Keck returned to the living room and saw that the bullet had hit his wife, he called 911, then called again from another phone when emergency responders hadn’t yet arrived, the affidavit said.
Henderson was on the couch, bleeding heavily when sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home in the 700 block of Leisure Lane in the Carefree neighborhood. Deputies applied pressure to try to stop the bleeding until emergency workers arrived, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report. The deputy continuously talked to Henderson to keep her awake, the report said.
Henderson, who was taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital for treatment, has been released, Johnson County Sheriff Doug Cox said.
Keck was arrested the night of the incident. The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office reviewed the investigation and filed the criminal charge this week.
