Tulane student charged in fatal shooting of boyfriend
NEW ORLEANS - New Orleans police have arrested a 20-year-old woman who allegedly shot and killed her live-in boyfriend in the face while playing with a gun.
Detectives say Nicole Dukarm, a student at Tulane University, called 911 at noon Thursday, and said that her 25-year-old boyfriend - identified by the New Orleans Advocate as Alex Przybyl - shot himself with his gun at their home. Officers arrived to find the boyfriend unresponsive.
Police say emergency medical workers attempted to revive the man at the home, but he died at the scene.
Detectives say Dukarm confessed Thursday afternoon that she had been playing with the gun and accidentally fired it at her boyfriend.
Dukarm, a Buffalo, N.Y.-area native, was booked on a charge of negligent homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the Advocate. She was ordered held on $50,000 bond.
Fred King, an attorney for Dukarm, called the incident a "tragedy" and said his client is traumatized. He told the paper Dukarm has never before been arrested or charged with a crime.
In an interview with Nola.com, King said his client's initial comments to police might have been the result of shock.
"I would suggest that in such a situation, where all of a sudden you see tragedy, anyone might have flirted with saying, 'It's not me,'" King said, according to the site. "But her honesty would trump any flirtation with any twisting of facts."
According to King, Dukarm and her boyfriend were preparing for a beach trip at the time of the shooting. He said a female roommate was also present at the time.
Orleans Parish Coroner Jeffrey Rouse told Nola.com Przybyl's death remains under investigation.