FREEMANSBURG, Pa. – A Freemansburg woman is being accused of shooting and killing her boyfriend’s adult daughter and wounding her boyfriend over the weekend.
Lacole Diane Dotson, 27, is charged with homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and recklessly endangering another person, according to a court docket.
The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office identified the woman who was killed as Atirah N. Steed.
Coroner Daniel Buglio said the cause of death was determined to be multiple gunshot wounds, and the manner of death was ruled homicide.
The Freemansburg Borough Police said officers responded to the 20 block of Market Street shortly after 6 a.m. Saturday for a 911 call, the Northampton County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Officers found a 27-year-old woman who was shot, as well as a 45-year-old man with gunshot wounds, the DA’s office said.
Authorities said officers also found Dotson at the home.
The DA’s office said both shooting victims were taken to the hospital.
The daughter died as a result of her injuries, and Dotson’s boyfriend remains hospitalized, according to the news release.
After an investigation, police say Dotson shot her boyfriend’s daughter and also shot her boyfriend in the living room. Police detained Dotson and charged her in the shootings.
The DA’s office said there is no further threat to public safety.
According to court documents, a witness told police Dotson had said something at the home that upset the daughter Saturday morning. Dotson later went upstairs and came back with a handgun, police said.
The witness told police Dotson’s boyfriend’s daughter got up to go upstairs when he heard a “pop, pop, pop,” court documents say. The witness said Dotson was shooting ‘everywhere,” including at him and the daughter, according to court paperwork.
The witness said he dove behind a couch for cover, according to court documents.
The front door opened, and the boyfriend said, “lily stop,” the witness told police, according to court records.
The witness said Dotson then shot her boyfriend, authorities say in court documents.
Authorities say the witness told police he ran out of the back door, but heard Dotson call the police about the shooting.
In an interview with police, Dotson admitted to going upstairs to get her firearm that she had purchased in April, authorities say in court paperwork.
According to court documents, Dotson said she remembered pointing the gun at her boyfriend’s daughter and pulling the trigger once.
Dotson said she walked past the daughter and towards the front door of the home and saw the boyfriend lying on the ground by the front door and that he related that he was shot, authorities said.
Dotson said she felt threatened but admitted she did not see her boyfriend’s daughter having a weapon in her hands, and there was no physical fight before the shooting, according to court records.
Authorities issued a search warrant and seized 11 discharged cartridges from inside the home, according to court documents.
In its news release, the DA’s office said Dotson was preliminarily arraigned before a judge and bail was denied. According to a court docket, Dotson faces a preliminary hearing on Sept. 1.
Three children were inside the home at the time of the incident, according to police.
Pennsylvania State Police are handling the investigation, with help from Freemansburg Borough Police and the DA’s office.