Background: The Washington County Sheriff”s Office in Potosi, Mo. (Google Maps). Inset: Josie Reed (Washington County Sheriff’s Office).

A Missouri woman claimed that her boyfriend attacked her before she fatally shot him. Now she has been charged with first-degree murder.

Josie Reed, a 20-year-old, was taken into custody on Friday following a response by Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies to reports of a shooting at a Mineral Point home. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered a 30-year-old man deceased from a gunshot wound and Reed, who had notified them of the incident. Authorities interrogated Reed, who allegedly asserted that the unidentified man had repeatedly attacked her before she took his gun and shot him.

As detailed in a probable cause affidavit examined by Law&Crime, Reed informed the officers that on the night of October 3, her boyfriend became “irate” and “choked her unconscious three times.” She also alleged that he used pepper spray on her and fired his gun. Amid the alleged attack, Reed managed to find her boyfriend’s pistol and fired it twice, thinking she missed with the first shot. She recounted that he was reaching for a shotgun when she decided to shoot.

During her interview, Reed reportedly “showed [the officers] the marks on her body,” but they noted none of these marks “were [consistent] with choking.” Additionally, no pepper spray was discovered at the location, nor was there any gunshot residue on the alleged victim’s hands.

The probable cause affidavit also mentioned another account from Reed, where she claimed to be a witness in a firearms case and that her boyfriend “prevented her from coming forward with the details.”

Subsequently, Reed was arrested and faced charges of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, unlawful weapon use, and domestic assault. She remains in the Washington County Jail, held on a $1 million cash bail, with her next court appearance scheduled for October 14.