A man accused of shooting his girlfriend in the head has had his case forwarded to a Mason County grand jury.
According to testimony given during a preliminary hearing before Judge Jeffrey Schumacher in Mason District Court on Monday, MCSO Deputy Josh Germann responded to a residence on Slack Pike at about 7 a.m., on Dec. 8, in answer to a report that a woman had been shot.
Upon arrival, Germann said he was greeted at the door by a man identified as Ricky Bowen, 63, who told the deputy he had accidentally shot his girlfriend as she slept. Germann said he made contact with the female victim who had a gunshot wound to her forehead.
The woman told the deputy that she had been asleep when she was awakened by a pain in her head and saw Bowen standing over her. She said she jumped up and went to check on her son whom she found unharmed.
The couple had been arguing, according to Sheriff Patrick Boggs.
“There was an ongoing domestic dispute in the household,” he said at the time.
Germann said Bowen later told him that he intended to kill his girlfriend and then himself.
Bowen told Germann that he took the .22-caliber handgun used in the shooting from a barn that belonged to his landlord, stood over his girlfriend and shot her in the head, the deputy testified. Bowen was unaware the gun was loaded with ammunition described as a “pest control’ shot that shoots out pellets rather than a bullet, Germann said.
The victim was taken to Meadowview Regional Medical Center and flown to the University of Kentucky Hospital where she was treated for her injuries and released.
Bowen faces charges of attempted murder and theft by unlawful taking of a firearm. He was arrested and lodged in the Mason County Detention Center, where he remains on a $100,000 cash bond.
