Local & State Headlines

Woman accidentally shot, killed

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — A Florida woman is dead after she apparently shot herself in the head at a rural Lee County home Wednesday afternoon, but investigators still aren’t sure if it was an accident or suicide, authorities say.

Lee County Sheriff’s Investigator Miles O’Quinn said 46-year-old Mary Jane Riley was being taught by a friend how to shoot a .357 magnum at a home near 222 Scott Road when she was struck in the head with a bullet. She died at the scene.

O’Quinn said that the friend told him he turned his back on Riley for a second and heard a shot, then saw her fall to the ground.

“We’re torn at this point between it being an accident or a suicide,” O’Quinn said. “And since the friend didn’t see it happen, we probably won’t know more until we’re able to interview family and get her medical history.”

Around 1 p.m., Lee County Deputies responded to the home in reference to an accidental shooting. When they arrived, O’Quinn, Lee County Coroner Ronald Rowe and the GBI crime scene unit were called.

Riley, whose address was listed as Fort Walton Beach, Fla., wasn’t living at the home where she died, O’Quinn said, although investigators believe she has family in the area.

Riley’s body will be taken to the state crime lab in Atlanta for an autopsy so that pathologists can remove the bullet. O’Quinn doesn’t expect any new information to arise from the autopsy.

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