Woman shot her husband dead because she was annoyed with him
Warning: This article contains discussion of domestic violence which some readers may find distressing.
An Alabama woman shot her husband dead after she allegedly told authorities she did so because she was annoyed with him for checking on her while she recovered from heart surgery.
Sheri Mitchell-Clutts, 65, called the police a little before 7:30 pm local time on Sunday (10 May) to report that her husband, Timothy Clutts, had been shot.
Franklin County deputies responding to the couple’s home in Russellville found the 69-year-old dead in a recliner with a single gunshot wound to the chest.
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Mitchell-Clutts initially told dispatchers she had felt threatened throughout the day leading up to the shooting, according to WAFF.
Investigators later said she admitted to shooting her husband of 15 years, claiming she had become irritated with him, Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said.
She was arrested and charged with murder, jail records show.
Authorities said Mitchell-Clutts underwent open-heart surgery around two weeks before the shooting and told investigators her husband repeatedly came into her room while she was recovering, which she found aggravating.
"It is our belief that Mr Clutts was coming into the bedroom to check on his wife due to her having open-heart surgery recently," a spokesperson for the sheriff's office told PEOPLE.
The spokesperson added that Mitchell-Clutts claimed her husband had been 'poking' her and that he hadn't made any verbal threats.
"She stated that Timothy had come in there one time, 'poked' her, and asked if she was hungry," the spokesperson said. "She told him that she was, and he brought her some food."
According to the sheriff, Mitchell-Clutts allegedly retrieved a handgun, waited for him to return, then went looking for him. She found him sitting in a recliner and shot him once in the chest.
"Her demeanour seemed obviously upset from what little interaction I had with her at the scene, but you never know what’s going through somebody’s mind," Sheriff Oliver said, according to WAFF.
"There's a number of cases where someone does something like this [and] you're actually having to track them down and find them and build evidence based on the scene, and in this situation she was pretty open," Sheriff Oliver told the outlet.
"You know, which leads us to a bunch of questions like what was going on with her or him."
Investigators are still reviewing the couple’s history and examining what may have led to the shooting.
"We’re going through at this time, but as of right now, we’ve gotten the call log and went back six years," Sheriff Oliver said. "At this point, there’s, that we can find, no domestic-related calls there."
Mitchell-Clutts remains in the Franklin County Jail without bond, according to records.
Tyla has reached out to the Franklin County Jail for further comment.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, please know that you are not alone. You can talk in confidence to the national domestic violence helpline Refuge on 0808 2000 247, available 24/7, or via live chat, available 10am-10pm, Monday to Friday.
Rhiannon Ingle