Erica Bascom Anderson, CSU theater professor in Georgia is shot dead by roommate after being mistaken for intruder as shooting is ruled accidental and no charges filed.
A theater professor in Georgia was shot and killed by her roommate after mistaking her for an intruder breaking into their home Monday evening, authorities said.
Erica Bascom Anderson, a 41-year-old lecturer at Columbus State University, was fatally shot at the residence in Columbus, Ga., Monday evening.
Anderson returned to the Georgia home, where she was renting a room and living with an unidentified roommate, around midnight after visiting her husband and children in Indiana, WTVM reported.
Shooting death of CSU theater professor ruled ‘accidental’
At the time of the tragedy, the roommate had been receiving repeated threats from her own son, including promises to physically harm the woman and burn her house down.
It was upon hearing Anderson returning home Monday night that the ‘frightened’ roommate woke up, grabbed her gun and approached the hallway. Believing she had seen an intruder, the woman opened fire, missing Anderson the first time before fatally striking her.
Officials have since ruled the incident an ‘accidental death.’
‘You have to think about the roommate that shot her. I’m sure she’s devastated as anyone would be under the circumstances,’ Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan told WTVM.
Anderson’s body has since been sent to the state crime lab for autopsy.
The tragedy follows in the wake of Anderson recently joining the school’s Department of Theatre & Dance for the fall semester as a lecturer in costume while also supervising its costume shop.
Before joining the staff at CSU, Anderson taught the same subject at Southern Utah University and the University of Florida. She also worked in theaters and opera houses all around the country, including the Sarasota Opera and Indiana Repertory Theatre, according to the university.
Erica Anderson’s family release statement
Anderson is survived by her husband, who is undergoing cancer treatments, and their three children, according to a GoFundme fundraiser set up to set up to raise money for her funeral expenses and to support her family.
Read a statement released by Anderson’s family, ‘Our family is still in shock as we try to comprehend how something so horrific could happen. Erica was taken from us far too soon, at only 41 years old, in an act of violence that never should have occurred.’
It remained unclear why Anderson had been living apart from her ill husband and their three children.
To date police declined to press charges against Anderson’s roommate as some wonder if the shooting was more of a case of negligence rather than accidental.
Authorities continue to investigate.
