Shirley Lee, South Bend, Indiana mom, shoots & kills daughter, Zawondra Lee for refusing to stop talking during verbal altercation. Daughter had been living with her mother the last few months.
‘I did that to my child.’ A South Bend, Indiana mom has admitted shooting her adult daughter dead over the weekend after she refused to obey overtures to stop talking.
Shirley A. Lee, 68, upon her arrest was charged with murder and voluntary manslaughter after authorities say she shot her daughter Zawondra Lee, 52.
The latter charge alleges that Shirley Lee killed her daughter while acting under ‘sudden heat,’ a mitigating factor that ‘reduces what otherwise would be murder’ to voluntary manslaughter.
‘I did that to my child,’
Probable cause documents filed with the St. Joseph Superior Court reveal the shooting arising after a verbal altercation between Shirley and Zawondra. According to arresting documents, officers responded to the 3900 block of Ardmore Trail just before midnight on Dec. 10 after a 911 caller said that his mother had shot his sister.
When police arrived at the scene, Shirley told them that Zawondra was dead. Officers then found Zawondra’s body in the home with a silver revolver nearby.
During police questioning, Shirley reportedly told police, ‘I did that to my child,’ and ‘I told her to stop talking, but she would not stop talking.’ Shirley also said that Zawondra had been living with her for three months prior to the shooting, WNDU reported.
Police say that Shirley went to her bedroom while arguing with Zawondra, shut the door in her face twice, and opened the door a third time when she thought her daughter had nothing left to say.
Shirley then told police that she became angry, retrieved her handgun, and shot Zawondra.
Shirley Lee is currently being held at the St. Joseph County Jail without bond. If convicted on the murder charge, she faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in a state correctional facility lawandcrime reported.
