A Mesa man considered killing his girlfriend early this morning, but opted to shoot her in the foot instead.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, Mesa police were dispatched to the Arizona Regional Medical Center about 12:30 a.m. today. Hospital staff called to report a woman had been brought in because her boyfriend, 51-year-old Barton Boyer, accidentally shot her in the foot.
As cops would soon find out, the shooting wasn't an accident, and Boyer had given some thought to killing the woman rather than just shooting her in the foot.
When police got to the hospital, Boyer immediately asked if they were there for "what [he'd] done."
Boyer went on to tell police how he was showing his girlfriend his new .22-caliber Jimenez Arms semi-automatic pistol as the two were sitting in his parked car outside of an apartment at 151 East 1st Street in Mesa. The gun, he initially told police, accidentally went off with the bullet striking the woman's foot.
After a little prying (a.k.a. police telling him they "really want him to be honest"), Boyer changed his tune.
He told told police he and the woman had been arguing as they were driving in the parking lot. He had the gun in his hand as he was trying to steer the car, and, in the "heat of the moment," he fired at her feet.
After shooting his girlfriend in the foot, Boyer didn't immediately take her to the hospital, despite her asking him to drop her off. Instead, he drove around for a while trying to "figure out what to do" before heading to the hospital.
When asked by police if he thought about murdering the women, Boyer told them "I might have been."
Boyer was booked on one count each of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm within city limits.
