An hourslong standoff between deputies and a woman who allegedly wounded her boyfriend by shooting him in the head ended with her arrest in Fallbrook Monday morning, sheriff’s officials said.
The standoff began shortly after deputies received a report from a man that his girlfriend had shot him in the head during a violent argument in their trailer home on Avo Drive near Mission Road around 1 a.m., sheriff’s Lt. Darrell McNeal said.
During the argument, the girlfriend allegedly pulled out a knife and threatened to harm her boyfriend, but he managed to wrestle the weapon away before a stabbing could occur, McNeal said.
The boyfriend took the knife and ran out of the trailer, McNeal said. While he was outside, the woman grabbed a rifle and fired out the window of the home, striking the boyfriend in the head.
Emergency room doctors said the injury could have been fatal if the bullet had “deviated slightly,” but the boyfriend only suffered a minor skull laceration, McNeal said. He was later released from the hospital.
After the shooting, investigators said the man’s girlfriend barricaded herself inside the trailer. Deputies from the sheriff’s SWAT team were called to the scene and began to negotiate with her.
Around 5:30 a.m., the girlfriend was taken into custody. She was booked into Vista jail on suspicion of attempted murder and criminal threats.