Woman Told Teen To Stop Smoking In The House, Seconds Later She Was Shot Dead

A woman told a teen to stop smoking in the house. When she left his room, a gun went off. He claimed it was an accident, police said it was murder.

Last week, police arrested Seth Settle in connection to the killing of a 52-year-old woman. The name of the victim hasn’t been released.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida responded to a home for a reported shooting on April 28. The victim was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound, where she died.

Police spoke to Settle, who lived in the same house as the victim, according to the sheriff’s office. Settle said he was in a bedroom when the victim told him to “stop smoking in the house,” according to the sheriff’s office.

The victim left and Settle said he pointed a gun at the door and it went off, according to the sheriff’s office. Settle left the room, saw the victim shot and told another person to call an ambulance, the sheriff’s office noted.

During the investigation, police said Settle lied to detectives five times about where he disposed of the gun.

“The suspect is trying to play this off as an accident, but he had a loaded gun and intentionally pointed it at the door where the victim just exited and he fired it. He fled the scene without rendering aid, then he arranged for a friend to dispose of the weapon. These are not the actions of a man who just accidentally killed someone. He knew exactly what he was doing,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Settle was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, tampering with evidence, discharging a firearm in a residential area and giving false information during an investigation.