A woman accused of attempted murder for allegedly shooting her boyfriend in their home will face justice in Circuit Court after being indicted Friday afternoon.
Angel Dawn Patterson, 45, was indicted for one count of attempted first-degree murder Friday, and will face charges stemming from the Jan. 11 shooting of her boyfriend, Jesse David Meeks, at the home they shared at 79 Patterson Rd.
During her preliminary hearing Jan. 23 in Judge Ryan J. Moore’s General Sessions Court, Patterson admitted she shot Meeks in the trailer they shared, and in fact called 911 to report the incident on the night in question. However, descriptions of the situation leading up to the shooting varied at that hearing.
According to Warren County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Calvin Hammond, Patterson asserted she was the victim of multiple incidents of assault at the hands of Meeks during their 1 ½-year relationship. The entire recording of an interrogation conducted by Hammond and Chief Investigator Jason Rowland just hours after the shooting was played in open court in January, during which Patterson repeated those allegations multiple times.
“The violence has gotten bad,” Patterson said on the recording. “Within the last year he’s been suicidal, he’s threatened to shoot himself. He’s choked me, but I never called (police). The reason I didn’t was because of I was taking care of my grandparents, and I figured I’d just let it go, you know?”
“He’s done a hell of a lot worse than that, but tonight wasn’t the night,” she said later in the interview. “I kind of just lost it.”
Hammond testified at Patterson’s preliminary hearing, stating he was told during an interview with Patterson that after returning from a day of errands and working on a nearby house, the couple soon began to argue. The fight allegedly turned physical, with Patterson saying she was struck twice with open-handed slaps, and retaliated by smacking Meeks.
After asking Meeks to leave the home, a request he refused, Patterson said she went outside to her car and retrieved her .380 pistol. She placed it on the kitchen counter and demanded she leave again. When Meeks once again refused, she allegedly shot him near the center of his chest as he sat on a bed approximately 5-6 feet away.
After the shooting, Patterson called 911 and was instructed to render aid to Meeks by putting pressure on his wound. Hammond testified a bloody towel was found at the scene, as was one spent shell casing, an unfired round and the loaded pistol.
Patterson can be heard near the end of her interview describing her emotions after the shooting.
“I can’t believe I done what I done in the heat of the moment,” she said. “I felt bad; I just couldn’t believe I shot somebody. What point do you have to get to?
“I know he’s been very violent with me and stuff like that, but I was very ashamed of myself. But I was so fed up, and just had enough.”
Patterson, who is currently incarcerated at Warren County Jail under a $1 million bond, is scheduled to appear for arraignment in Circuit Court March 19.
