Utah man shoots and kills wife after she tells him she is leaving, police say

A Utah wife told her husband she was leaving him and now police say the husband has been charged with her murder.

On May 21, Santa Clara-Ivins Police responded to a report of a gunshot around 6:30 p.m. and were told on the way to the scene that a man had “shot his wife after being told she was leaving him,” according to authorities.

Once at the scene, police discovered the victim, Shawntell Smith, suffering from several gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Police talked to witnesses who went in the house after hearing gunshots and found the victim on the ground and unresponsive. Steven Timothy Smith, the victim’s husband, was seen walking away from the victim and into another room.

Witnesses also said they saw a handgun that belonged to Smith with “the lock slide locked back” sitting on a cabinet nearby, police said. Officers also noted Smith had blood on his hands and clothes.

According to authorities, the witness then fought with Smith, who told them, “I’m done, I have nothing else.” Smith told police he was angry with the victim.

Before the shooting, Smith left the home to withdraw a large amount of money and when he got back, he told anyone who wasn’t a family member to leave the house, police said.

Smith told police “that he did not remember what happened between the time he told non-family members to leave the residence and when officers arrived on the scene.”

Smith was taken into custody on May 21 and booked into the Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility. He was charged with first-degree felony murder, authorities said.