A domestic disturbance in Ponderosa Park, Prescott, Arizona, on December 27, 2021, ended with the death of 56-year-old Sterling Wade Peters. Peters had moved to Prescott from the Phoenix area with his partner, Shannon Jackson, about three years earlier. Deputies found Peters deceased inside the couple’s residence after a neighbor reported that Jackson had come to her house and confessed to shooting him during an altercation.

Jackson cooperated with investigators and said she had acted in self-defense, but detectives concluded the physical evidence and interview statements were not consistent with a justifiable use of force. Jackson told detectives she picked up a .357 Magnum revolver from the floor during the argument and fired two shots, striking Peters in the side and chest. Shannon Jackson, then 43, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

What details about the timeline or the events that afternoon might help explain how the argument escalated to deadly violence?