According to reports, a Michigan man has been charged with the killing of an elderly woman who was campaigning against abortion rights by knocking on doors.
The Guardian reports that Richard Alan Harvey, 74, is accused of shooting Joan Jacobson, 84, in the shoulder on September 20 when she was arguing with his wife.
On Friday, he was charged with one count each of assault with felonious assault, negligent discharge of a firearm resulting in harm, and reckless use of a firearm.
The most serious offense of felonious assault carries a maximum jail sentence of four years.
Harvey, a resident of Ionia County in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, told WOOD-TV that the shooting was a “accident.” He claimed to have retrieved the firearm from a barn after Jacobson refused to leave the premises. He had already fired a warning shot at a tree, according to The Guardian.
“She (the volunteer) continues to scream and rave while holding this clipboard. She is flailing it about. I believe she will use it to hit Sharon. My finger was still in the trigger guard when I unthinkingly attempted to remove it with the rifle. It exploded and struck her approximately here “He explained, pointing to his right shoulder, to the media source.
According to The Detroit News, Jacobson, a longtime volunteer with the anti-abortion organization Right to Life, was knocking on doors to persuade voters to oppose a plan to entrench abortion rights in Michigan’s constitution.
She told the newspaper that Harvey’s wife began an argument with her and demanded that she leave their property, and that she was about to leave when she was shot.
In his interview with WOOD-TV, Harvey refuted her account, alleging that she was asked to leave the property at least a dozen times but refused.
Jacobson told The Detroit News that she drove herself to a neighboring police station and subsequently obtained medical treatment for her wound.
In November, Michigan voters will determine whether to entrench the right to abortion in the state’s constitution, following the June reversal of Roe v. Wade, which abolished the constitutional right to abortion.