A Gary man is facing multiple felony charges after his girlfriend was fatally shot with a sawed-off shotgun on Monday. Charles Franklin, 26, has been charged with murder; unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon; domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon; domestic battery in the presence of a child younger than 16; intimidation connected to a May 2 incident; and misdemeanor domestic battery from an April 12 case.
He is being held without bail. The Lake County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 26-year-old Arrianna Miles. She was pronounced dead at 3:04 p.m. Monday at Methodist Hospital Northlake. An autopsy found she died from severe bleeding caused by a close-range gunshot wound that entered her body on a downward path.
Police were dispatched Monday afternoon to the 2400 block of Pennsylvania Street after a report of a gunshot victim. Officers found Miles on the ground, staring upward with a large red wound on her abdomen. According to the probable cause affidavit, Franklin stood over her and told officers the gun was under a loveseat. Police then recovered a sawed-off shotgun from the location.
Franklin told officers he and Miles had been arguing and claimed she was holding the gun when they began wrestling, which he said caused it to fire. At the hospital, doctors said Miles died shortly after she arrived, according to the Post-Tribune.
During a later search of Miles’ home, police found five 12-gauge shotgun shells that matched the spent casing found at the scene. Court records also describe the 911 call. Franklin told the dispatcher he was applying pressure to Miles’ wound.
When asked if the shooting was intentional, he hesitated before saying “no.” In the background, Miles repeatedly cried, “Why would you do that?” She sounded in and out of consciousness, saying “I’m dying” and “take me outside,” before going silent. When police arrived, she told them, “Please get him away from me.”
Franklin has a prior conviction for armed robbery with a firearm in Cook County from March 2021. During his police interview, he said the argument began because he was slow to leave for cigars, and Miles was trying to kick him out. He claimed she grabbed the shotgun from a closet and pointed it toward herself, a statement investigators noted did not align with the weapon’s size and weight.
Franklin said he hit the gun’s stock and tried to take it from her when it fired. Records show a long history of domestic violence. In April, Franklin was documented choking and hitting Miles with a belt. In May, he reportedly told her he loved her but would kill her when she asked him to leave. In June, she told police he struck, choked, and slammed her to the ground, leaving her unconscious. A witness in another incident also said Franklin was the aggressor.
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