Audrey Lowndes, 40, died from a gunshot wound to the head on April 15, 2014, in a mobile home on South Grand Avenue in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. She was found in a rear bedroom in the early morning hours after a 911 call; she was taken to a local hospital and then airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, where she later died.

Her 28-year-old boyfriend, James McCabe Mallin, was arrested on preliminary charges including attempted first-degree murder after being found near Lowndes. Mallin told investigators he found Lowndes holding his .22 caliber rifle and said the weapon accidentally discharged as he tried to take it from her, striking her in the back of the head. A witness at the residence reported hearing the couple argue for about 15 minutes before the gunshot; the night before the three had attended a church service and had been drinking after returning home.

The District Attorney’s office later declined to file charges, concluding Lowndes’s death was a horrible accident and that Mallin’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances. The family publicly agreed with that assessment.