Wife Shoots Husband Who Strangled Her

On Friday Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office received a call from a woman who claimed to have shot her husband in self-defense.

Police responded around 9 p.m. to the Metairie home to find 27-year-old, Ian Mastin, with multiple gunshot wounds which he died from at the scene.

According to his 27-year-old wife who was not identified, Mastin had beaten and strangled her when she finally shot him.

The shooting was prompted by events from the previous day when Mastin had beaten her and had attempted strangulation that time as well.

Police took the woman into custody to question her about the shooting motivation.

Although, according to Police she stated she feared for her life, there were no police records of domestic complaints from the woman.

In fact, friends and family had no idea the long-term abuse was going on either.

Still, the woman was able to back up her story and “… provided a detailed and well-documented history of physical and psychological abuse” by her husband Mastin, who was a first-year law student at Tulane University.

According to Capt. Jason Rivarde, the abused woman had been

“… hiding the abuse from friends and family but was able to provide a significant amount of corroborating evidence to back her statements.”

“The woman stated that another incident of physical abuse occurred through the evening hours yesterday that included escalating altercations and attempted strangulation.” Rivarde said.

“Fearing that the years of abuse would culminate in the loss of her life, she shot her husband. She displayed multiple physical injuries that corroborated her account.”

Officers declined to identify the woman because she is the suspected victim of domestic abuse and have not filed charges against her feeling the shooting was justified self-defense.

She was released pending a review by the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office, who will then decide if they want to pursue the matter further.

What do you think of this shooting? It is a hard thing to do, to tell your friends and family of what is going on in domestic abuse situations. Fortunately for her, she had evidence to back up her story, but what if she had not? Let us know in the comments below.

Read here for The Physiolgy of Stopping a Threat.