Background: News footage depicts the Oklahoma City neighborhood where a tragic shooting took place (KOCO). An image of Elisha Kirby is shown (Oklahoma City Police Department).
An Oklahoma woman allegedly told police that she has “anger issues” while confessing to firing the gunshot that killed her neighbor.
Oklahoma City Police apprehended 30-year-old Elisha Kirby on Sunday following an inquiry into the shooting death of Billy Sorrels, 45. Authorities reported that they responded to a call at Sorrels’ home on Friday night, where they discovered him on the front porch, dead from a gunshot wound. Upon entering the house, police found a rifle in the bedroom, a space authorities suspect Sorrels had occupied with a 12-year-old child who was engaged in video games.
Based on the initial observations of the scene, police at first believed his death was a suicide.
An investigation later revealed that a bullet hole was found in the wall of his home that came from the outside.
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A report from the local CBS station KDTV revealed that the investigation pointed to Kirby, who lived next door to Sorrels. The station acquired court documents indicating that Kirby confessed to discharging a firearm from her front door amid a dispute with another woman.
Police said that she confessed to firing the gun, believing that she was simply firing into the air. Court documents also stated that she “confessed she has anger issues and she let her anger get the best of her.”
Kirby reportedly told investigators that she did not intend to shoot at anyone’s home.
Master Sergeant Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department told KDTV that the bullet “has to go somewhere. It went right through a wall, struck the man, ultimately killing him.”
Kirby, who reportedly had a previous incident with a firearm in which she injured herself, was arrested on a complaint of second-degree murder. She has not yet been formally charged by the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, which shows only an initial criminal filing. Kirby remains in the Oklahoma County Detention Center, where she is being held without bond.
