Woman Charged With Killing Husband

A Washington woman was charged after she fatally shot her husband June 30.

Samantha Lackey, 31, faces second-degree murder and armed criminal action charges.

The Washington Police Department said Lackey contacted 911 to report that she had just shot her husband.

Officers arrived to find Matthew Lackey, 31, deceased with a gunshot wound.

According to the probable cause statement, Lackey told 911 that her husband had “beat the (expletive) out of her” and held her at gunpoint. 

The probable cause statement said Matthew Lackey had been fired from his job in February and according to Samantha, had been abusing alcohol and taking edibles.

She said he had been more violent in the last three weeks and attempted to choke her, leaving scratches and bruises on her neck.

Police said they were still visible.

The day of the shooting, she got home from work around 4 p.m. They played video games, then went to Dirt Cheap to buy liquor.

Around 7 p.m. they began watching a movie and Lackey said something must have triggered him because he began yelling at her and was agitated.

She sent her children to the basement to play.

When she came back to the living room, Matthew was sitting on a couch in the corner of the room. Her gun was sitting on the back of the couch. Matthew allegedly told her to sit down. They began arguing, with Matthew accusing her of cheating. She said he motioned like he was going to punch her and acted as if he was going to take the gun.

Matthew allegedly told her to leave but she said she wasn’t going to because it was too late.

Finally, she agreed to leave.

Matthew got up from the couch and went down the hallway. She grabbed the gun from the couch and noticed him coming back. She shoved the gun between the cushions of the recliner.

He allegedly walked over to her and began screaming. Lackey recalled saying that he could see her jugular vein throbbing in her neck and that he was going to rip it out.

Lackey said she was slapped in the face, so she pulled out the gun and shot him in the face.

She knew the shot was fatal, so she went to the basement and told their children to stay there.

Lackey was interviewed a second time after listening to the 911 call. It was pointed out that she told 911 that she was being assaulted and held at gunpoint. Lackey said she was upset and wasn’t sure what she was saying.

She was asked if she told her husband to get back and she said no. Asked if he had pointed the gun at her, she said no. She also said he was never seen holding the gun.

Lackey pointed to a spot on her right cheek where she claimed she was smacked, but the officer said it didn’t look like anything that could definitely be from a smack.

She also pointed out scratches and bruising to her neck from being choked, which the officer said seemed consistent with her story.

The probable cause statement said Washington police have not taken any reports of domestic assault between the two. There have been two reports of peace disturbances.