Man indicted, accused of shooting girlfriend with shotgun, then kissing her good-bye
.jpg "Jaime Thongphanh of Fort Worth is accused of shooting his girlfriend with a shotgun during a domestic dispute in May.")
A 37-year-old Fort Worth man has been indicted in the shotgun shooting of his girlfriend during a domestic dispute in May.
The woman, Heather Teter, survived the blast to her chest and later told her story to the Star-Telegram.
A Tarrant County grand jury returned an indictment against Jaime Thongphanh of Fort Worth on Wednesday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Thongphanh was arrested Oct. 9 and remained in the Tarrant County Jail Monday with bail set at $250,000.
Teter, 29, said she spent three weeks at a Fort Worth hospital after the shooting and underwent nine surgeries before she was released in early June.
Teter talked about her horrific experience with the Star-Telegram and wrote an account of the shooting on a fundraising website while in the hospital.
In June, Teter said she remained terrified because Thongphanh had not been arrested.
Her relationship with Thongphanh didn’t start out that way.
Teter told the Star-Telegram she believed in 2017 she had found the man of her dreams, a partner she had spent her whole life looking for.
But she said Thongphanh isolated her from friends and then the beatings began, over and over. She tried to leave him several times, but each time he promised to do better. In a couple of days, the beatings resumed.
Then came the shooting on May 3. Teter said Thongphanh rushed into their bedroom at a Fort Worth home, armed with a shotgun.
“He kept asking me why I lied,” Teter said. “He thought I cheated.”
He brandished the shotgun, pointing it at her while she begged and pleaded for her life. She said she believed he was on drugs.
“He told me to open my mouth and put the gun in there, but I refused, causing him to hit me with the gun and taunt me more,” she said.
He eventually placed the shotgun on the side of her stomach under her ribs.
Teter hit the shotgun, yelling at her boyfriend to take it away, but he pulled the trigger and shot her, according to her account.
“It seemed as if someone was pouring a pitcher of red Kool-Aid out of me,” she said referring to the blood coming out of her.
She begged for an ambulance.
Thongphanh got on the phone, but he was just calling someone to pick him up, Teter said. He finally called 911 for her.
He bent down, said, “I love you,” kissed her and left.
A trial date for Thongphanh is pending.
This story was originally published December 3, 2018 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Man indicted, accused of shooting girlfriend with shotgun, then kissing her good-bye."
