A U.S. Army solider was charged with murder after fatally shooting a woman during a “domestic dispute” in Texas.
Michael Leonard Moore, 35, was formally charged Wednesday for the Monday morning shooting death of a 34-year-old woman at a Killeen home, according to the Killeen Police Department.
Moore is an active-duty soldier at Fort Hood and had returned to base after allegedly committing the offense.
He was detained on base by military police, who then notified Killeen police. Moore was then taken into custody by Killeen officers on Tuesday and transported to the city jail.
Killeen police said officers were dispatched to the 1100 block of Wales Drive around 7:56 a.m. Monday on reports of a gunshot victim. Upon arrival, officers found a woman dead at the scene. Her identity has not been released.
Investigators said preliminary information reveals Moore and the woman were involved in a “domestic dispute” when he allegedly pulled a handgun out and shot her.
Court records obtained by the Killeen Daily Herald showed Moore waived his rights to silence and admitted to killing the woman, who he said was his girlfriend, after they had an argument about their relationship.
Moore allegedly said his girlfriend threatened him with a knife and he “packed some things” to leave. When he went back into the bedroom, he instead sat on the bed and waited with a gun hidden under a comforter in his lap.
BIDEN SIGNS ORDER MAKING MILITARY SEXUAL HARASSMENT A CRIMINAL OFFENSE
The court records also showed discrepancies between Moore’s story to police and evidence found at the scene. Moore allegedly said he shot at the woman “multiple times” when she entered a room he was in, but police said evidence showed the woman was much closer in range than Moore described.
An autopsy was ordered to be performed at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.
Moore remains in the Bell County Jail on $1 million bond. He has been ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor if he posts bond.
The woman’s death marks the city’s 13th murder investigation of 2022.
