The Elmore Sheriff’s Office found a husband and wife shot early Saturday morning.
Zachary Lee, 34, of Tallassee, called 911 and spoke with operators.
“He tells dispatch that he shot his wife, she shot first,” Elmore County Sheriff's Office investigator Sgt. William Coffel said. “They ask him to render aid. He tells them he is on the back porch. ‘I’m not going back in,’ (he told dispatchers.)”
When deputies arrived to the 80000 block of Tallassee Highway, they found Lee laying on his back on the back porch with a gunshot wound to one leg and his wife, Bethany Lee, deceased inside.
“He was unresponsive initially,” Coffel said. “They get him up and talking and realize one leg has a gunshot wound that appears to be from a .22 caliber ratshot.”
Inside the backdoor near the bed, Coffel said deputies found Bethany Lee face down with multiple gunshot wounds and a gun in her left hand.
Law enforcement had been to the home multiple times in the past few years for domestic violence calls. According to court records, in that same timeframe, she filed for divorce in 2018 but ultimately asked for it to be dismissed.
Saturday morning Coffel and other deputies processed the scene and interviewed Zachary Lee, who told investigators the couple had been planning a date night for a couple of weeks and left their children with family.
“It is just them and they get into it,” Coffel said. “They are on the back porch.”
From there, Coffel said Lee presented a story that Coffel alleged didn’t match the scene.
“They had basically agreed to shoot each other,” Coffel said Lee told him. “He said he will go first.”
Coffel said a single action revolver was used meaning each time the shooter has to pull the hammer back.
“She shoots him in one leg, pulls the hammer back and shoots him in the other leg,” Coffel said Lee said in his interview. “But there was only one gunshot wound to one of his legs.”
Lee allegedly told Coffel he took the gun from his wife as she was retreating into the house. Coffel said Lee shot his wife as she was crossing the threshold into the house.
“She (fell) down,” Coffel said. “He said he didn’t go back into the house and called us.”
Lee was arrested and placed in the Elmore County Jail on the charge of murder-family-gun domestic violence. He currently has no bond available to him. There will be an Aniah’s Law hearing in the next few days to determine if Lee gets a bond.
