Background: News footage of the Oklahoma City, Okla. neighborhood where the fatal shooting occurred (KOCO). Inset: Elisha Kirby (Oklahoma City Police Department).
An Oklahoma woman allegedly told police that she has “anger issues” while confessing to firing the gunshot that killed her neighbor.
Elisha Kirby, 30, was arrested by Oklahoma City Police on Sunday after an investigation into the fatal shooting of 45-year-old Billy Sorrels. Police said they responded to a call at Sorrels’ residence on Friday night and found him deceased of a gunshot wound when they arrived at the scene. His body was found on the front porch of his home. When police went inside, they found a rifle in the bedroom where authorities believe Sorrels had been sitting with a 12-year-old child who was playing video games.
Based on the initial observations of the scene, police at first believed his death was a suicide.
An investigation later revealed that a bullet hole was found in the wall of his home that came from the outside.
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According to a report by local CBS affiliate KDTV, the investigation led authorities to Kirby, Sorrels’ next-door neighbor. Court documents obtained by the station stated that Kirby admitted to firing a gun from her front door while having an argument with another woman.
Police said that she confessed to firing the gun, believing that she was simply firing into the air. Court documents also stated that she “confessed she has anger issues and she let her anger get the best of her.”
Kirby reportedly told investigators that she did not intend to shoot at anyone’s home.
Master Sergeant Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department told KDTV that the bullet “has to go somewhere. It went right through a wall, struck the man, ultimately killing him.”
Kirby, who reportedly had a previous incident with a firearm in which she injured herself, was arrested on a complaint of second-degree murder. She has not yet been formally charged by the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, which shows only an initial criminal filing. Kirby remains in the Oklahoma County Detention Center, where she is being held without bond.
