A Georgia man has been charged after being accused of shooting his neighbor who asked him to lower his music.
Alejandro Morales, 51, was charged with reckless conduct connected to the incident at a Lawrenceville, Georgia, apartment complex on Sunday, WSB-TV reported.
Eric and Jalyne Evans Jones said they decided to knock on Morales’ door to ask him to turn the volume down when the unexpected happened, according to the outlet. He told the news station that his wife was shot through the closed door moments later.
“The music suddenly went off. I heard the racking of a gun and a shot fired out immediately thereafter, striking my wife,” he said, per WSB-TV. “She immediately yelled out saying, ‘Oh my God, babe. They shot me in my abdomen.”
Jalyne was hospitalized and had to undergo multiple surgeries due to her injuries. Eric said the bullet struck her large intestine and is inside her body “a few centimeters from her spine.” He added that doctors had to “remove a portion of her colon,” the news station reported.
The couple said they no longer feel safe at the apartment complex and want accountability. Veranda Apartments will allow the duo to break their lease or change their unit, Atlanta News First reported. Morales alleged that Eric, the husband, had a gun on him when the couple approached the door. However, Eric said that’s not true.
“When I retrieved my weapon, that was after the shooting occurred, and I went downstairs to retrieve the keys to my vehicle and got my weapon at that time,” he told WSB-TV. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Jalyne to help raise funds to cover her medical bills.
This is not the first time such an incident has led to violence. In April, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot in the head by an 84-year-old white man after the teen mistakenly rang the wrong doorbell while picking up his younger siblings in Kansas City, Missouri, as previously reported.
Yarl survived the shooting while Andrew Lester, the man accused of shooting the teen, was charged with felony assault in the first-degree and armed criminal action, both felonies. Lester pleaded not guilty and was released on a $200,000 bond.
