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Man Mistakenly Shoots Wife, Police Say

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

A pregnant woman was wounded in the shoulder early Wednesday when her husband mistook her for a burglar in the dark, grabbed a handgun beside his bed and fired, police said.

The incident occurred around 2 a.m. after Susan Marie Gonzales, 38, five months pregnant, returned to her bedroom after getting a glass of water, said Rick Swanston, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley Division.

Gonzales’ husband, Floyd Clayton Green, 31, suddenly awakened and, seeing an unidentified figure in his bedroom doorway, grabbed the 9-millimeter handgun and fired once, striking his wife, according to Swanston.

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Police who investigated the incident in the 5100 block of Baza Avenue said the shooting appeared to be accidental and there was “no known history of any domestic discord.” Gonzales’ 9-year-old daughter was asleep elsewhere in the house at the time, police said.

“The man immediately called police” and the woman was treated at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, Swanston said.

She was in serious condition Wednesday, a police spokesman said. The hospital declined to discuss her condition.

Green was detained, questioned and released pending further investigation, police said.

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