Man accused of shooting, killing girlfriend at Mesa home

MESA, Ariz. (3TV/CBS 5) — A Mesa man is facing a murder charge after allegedly shooting his girlfriend for “nagging” him.

Just after 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers responded to a shooting at a house on Obispo Avenue, near Sossaman and Guadalupe roads. 48-year-old Timothy Staufenbeil called 911 to report that he was cleaning his gun when he accidentally shot his girlfriend. Police and fire crews arrived to find a woman sitting on the couch, dead from a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

One of the suspect’s friends reached out to Mesa police a short time later saying Staufenbeil called around 1 p.m. to admit he shot the woman. According to court documents, Staufenbeil reportedly told his friend that the woman had been “nagging him and carrying on for a couple of days,” so he got up and shot her in the back of the head while she was sitting on the couch. The friend also said Staufenbeil was talking about killing himself.

Police later learned the suspect had called his mother twice nearly an hour before calling 911. During an interview with investigators later that day, Staufenbeil reportedly changed his story about what happened. The suspect said he came into the house and saw the woman sitting on the couch holding a gun to her head. He says he rushed toward her to take the gun away but it went off.

Officers recovered a .40 caliber handgun from the kitchen and a single shell casing near the woman’s body. Staufenbeil was booked for second-degree murder. Police have not released the identity of the victim.