A 33-year-old former sheriff’s deputy in Florida faces a long prison term after killing his girlfriend by accidentally shooting her in the head. This incident took place as he was instructing her on how to clean and handle firearms.

On Wednesday, a Marion County jury found Leslie Dale Boileau Jr. guilty of manslaughter with a firearm regarding the 2023 death of 25-year-old Polina Wright, as per court documents.

Boileau had been a patrol deputy with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office

The affidavit from his arrest details that Ocala Police Department officers responded to Boileau’s call on September 19, 2024. He reported having “shot his girlfriend,” describing it as an “accidental discharge.”

At the scene, first responders found Boileau and discovered Wright, who was “sitting” in a chair and “obviously deceased” from a gunshot wound to the forehead. Several firearms and cleaning materials were scattered on the table before Wright and around the room, including the rifle that Boileau claimed had accidentally fired.

An officer at the scene questioned Boileau, who responded, “I was cleaning the guns,” adding, “we were pointing them at each other.”

“She kept saying, ‘I want you to teach me how to use them, I want you to teach me how to use them,'” Boileau explained to the officer, recounting the moments leading up to the incident. “I assured her we would, but then we were pointing the guns at each other, and the shot happened.”

Boileau confirmed that he was holding the “AR” rifle at the time before making several incriminating statements such as “I know this looks really bad,” “I told her I did not want this to happen,” and “I did not want to train her in the f—ing house like this.”

In a more formal post-Miranda interview, Boileau said he and Wright had spent the day together before going to dinner at a Mexican restaurant where they each had about three margaritas. When they arrived back at his home around 8 p.m., Boileau saw that the firearm cleaning supplies he had ordered online had been delivered. This “prompted Wright to inquire about firearms” and Boileau obliged.

“Boileau stated during the cleaning/firearm training scenarios he was providing to Wright, they were pointing firearms in the direction of one another which Boileau knew was wrong, based on his profession as law enforcement officer,” the affidavit says. “During the cleaning/training scenarios, Boileau stated he pointed the rifle in Wright’s direction, pulled the trigger one time which ultimately fired a round towards Wright, which ultimately struck Wright in the forehead, in between her eyes. After realizing Wright had been shot, Boileau held her until law enforcement/EMS arrived at the scene.”

Specifically, Boileau said he let Wright handle an empty rifle, which he then reloaded because he planned to put it away. However, he then noticed that Wright was handling a fully-loaded handgun, so he put the rifle down to grab the handgun and clear it of any live ammo and allowed Wright to “dry fire” the weapon.

Boileau said he then turned his attention back to the rifle.

“Boileau stated he grabbed the rifle and dry fired it one time,” the affidavit says. “On the second dry fire attempt, Boileau had forgotten that he placed the loaded magazine into the rifle which shot one live round in the direction of Wright, ultimately killing her. Boileau claimed he did not chamber a live round from the rifle magazine.”

As the interview came to a close, Boileau described his behavior as “sloppy.”

A date for Boileau’s sentencing hearing will be set after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report, which must be submitted within 30 days. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison.