A 44-year-old Adams Township woman now faces serious criminal charges after authorities say she fatally shot her husband during a heated dispute over a handgun that had been sitting on their living room coffee table.
Dawn Marie Freeman was arrested on October 5 following a police investigation into the shooting death of her husband, 40-year-old Bradley Allen Freeman, at the couple’s home on Mine 42 Road.
According to a probable-cause affidavit filed by Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Stephanie Smith, Dawn Freeman told investigators she had been worried about the 9mm handgun for roughly two years. She explained that her husband had purchased the weapon and completed a firearms safety course, yet kept leaving it “lying out in the open” even when young children visited the home. Freeman told police she had “begged” him repeatedly to secure the firearm because she feared “something bad would happen.”
On October 4, Freeman told police she was sitting on the couch when she spotted the gun on the coffee table and asked her husband to put it somewhere safe. When he refused, Freeman said she became angry, picked up the firearm, pointed it directly at him, and pulled the trigger “to show him a lesson,” according to the affidavit.
Bradley Freeman was struck in the upper-right chest and collapsed face-down on the floor. Police say Dawn Freeman then threw the gun across the room and called out for her sons, who were upstairs at the time.
Her eldest son rushed downstairs, helped place a 911 call, and performed CPR under the guidance of a Cambria County emergency dispatcher. Emergency responders arrived and took over care at the scene, but Bradley Freeman was pronounced dead inside the home.
Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees determined that a single gunshot wound to the chest caused Bradley Freeman’s death and officially ruled it a homicide.
At the scene, investigators recovered a black Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun from the living room, a spent shell casing found behind the couch, and a fired bullet on the floor near the front door.
Pennsylvania State Police took the lead on the case at the request of Cambria County District Attorney Jessica Aurandt. Troopers from barracks in Ebensburg, Greensburg, and Kiski Valley provided support, along with the PSP Forensic Services Unit and local emergency personnel.
Court records show that Dawn Freeman faces charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and recklessly endangering another person. Authorities remanded her to the Cambria County Prison without bail. A preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Rick W. Varner is scheduled for October 22.
Leave a Reply