Morgantown, North Carolina

From Charlotte’s WSOCtv.com of July 27, 2006

Police Say Deadly Shooting May Have Been Justified

Burke County investigators are trying to determine whether a shooting that left a man dead was in self defense.

Authorities said they were called to Wakefield Avenue west of Morganton just after 1:30 a.m. Thursday. They pronounced 30-year-old Neal Michael Cochran dead on a bedroom floor in the home he shared with his wife, Amy, and their two children. He had been shot multiple times, deputies said.

Family members said they are surprised that police say Amy Cochran is responsible.

"She's a friendly person, has a lot of friends. No, this ain't like her," her mother, Debbie Wooly said.

Deputies said they found Cochran at a neighbor's house suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. She was taken to Grace Hospital by paramedics.

Preliminary talks with authorities revealed that Cochran came home around 12:30 a.m. and was confronted by her husband, deputies said.

Detective Sgt. Tim Corriveau of the Burke County Sheriff's Office said Neal Cochran began physically assaulting her, and a neighbor witnessed the abuse. He said there was also evidence of a struggle inside the home, which led to the bedroom where Amy Cochran got a handgun.

"It appears that Mrs. Cochran was shot in the leg while she and her husband struggled over the gun," Corriveau said.

Then, Neal Cochran was shot to death.

Fortunately, the neighbor who was present when the fighting began took the couple's 4- and 7-year-old children out of the home before things escalated, police said.

Wooly said her daughter is a good mother, but her marriage had problems – problems that police were aware of.

Authorities had been called to the house at least three times before. In October 2004, Amy Cochran obtained a domestic violence prevention order against her husband. Then, just two weeks ago, she took out a warrant against her husband for assault on a female. Investigators said she allowed him to return to the residence.

Detectives from both the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Burke County Sheriff's Office spent more than seven hours at the crime scene trying to determine the circumstances of the shooting. So far Cochran has not been charged in the shooting. Deputies will take the case to the district attorney to determine any charges.

Maj. David Pendly of the sheriff's office said the evidence collected Thursday should help investigators and the district attorney's office determine whether the case could be considered justifiable homicide.