A Frazer woman has been charged with killing her husband, who died inside their home after he was shot Monday night following an argument.
Teresa Drum, 38, faces one count of homicide in the death of 42-year-old Dennis Drum Sr. She was being held in the Allegheny County Jail Tuesday afternoon while she awaits arraignment.
Police said a woman called 911 about 10:30 p.m. Monday and said “me and my husband were fighting and he just shot himself.” When police arrived, they found Mr. Frazer lying in the fetal position on a bed, a gun in his right hand. A holster was on the floor behind his body. Mr. Drum had an “apparent gunshot wound to his forehead,” according to a criminal complaint.
Police said Ms. Drum showed a cell phone photograph to paramedics that showed Mr. Drum in the position where first-responders found him. “She explained that she did not know what to do, so she had taken and sent the photograph to a friend who then advised Teresa Drum to call 911. In the photograph, no gun can be seen around the victim nor in the victim’s right hand,” police wrote in the complaint. Police said 11 minutes elapsed between the moment the picture was taken and the time of the 911 call.
Ms. Drum initially told police that her husband had shot himself. She later told them that she and her husband argued because she drank the last beer and “then the victim pulled his gun from his holster and pointed at her. Teresa Drum said that she went to push the gun away and it went off,” according to the complaint.
Police wrote that Ms. Drum later told them that he had seven beers in the five or so hours before the shooting and fought with her husband about a casserole she had burned. The couple ended up in the bedroom. Ms. Drum said her husband was sitting on the bed, and she was standing when he took his gun from his holster and “put her finger on the trigger of the gun, along with his, and the gun went off,” according to the complaint.
Police said Ms. Drum took the photo of her husband, sent it to a friend, and called 911. She told police she took a shower to “rinse off” and put her bloody clothes in a hamper. “Teresa Drum stated that at no time after the shooting did she render aid to the victim,” police wrote. “When asked how the gun ended up in the victim’s hand when officers arrived on scene, Teresa Drum stated that she did not know.”
A sister of Mr. Drum said he was an employee of American Airlines, working as an airplane mechanic in Philadelphia and commuting from his home. He served six years in the , she said.
His sister said Teresa and Dennis have two children.
Karen Kane: kkane@post-gazette.com. Liz Navratil:
Liz Navratil: lnavratil@post-gazette.com
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