Charges are not being filed "at this time" against a pastor’s wife who claimed it was an accident when she opened fire on her husband, killing him in the process at their Lemon Grove home, according to a representative for the district attorney's office.
Gabriella "Gabby" Shepherd, 26, was arrested earlier this week after she fatally shot her 29-year-old husband, Noah Shepherd, on Monday when he entered their home through the back door, according to San Diego County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Mike Arens. When she called 911 to report the shooting, she allegedly told dispatchers that the incident was not intentional.
Gabby was scheduled to face a judge Thursday for an arraignment at 1:30 in the El Cajon courthouse. However, Tanya Sierra, who is a public affairs officer for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, told NBC 7 on Thursday that the case would not be moving forward on Thursday.
"We are not filing charges at this time," Sierra wrote in an email. "The investigation is ongoing, and we will review the case as we get more information."
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Sierra said that Gabby would be released from custody on Thursday.
At this point, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's Who's in Jail website, she is still in custody at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility, being without bail.
A custody information worker at the jail told NBC 7 that the court has to submit an order to the jail before Gabby can be released, adding that inmates are typically released starting at 6 p.m., when court closes and they process all the paperwork from the day. Inmates are typically released between between 6-10 p.m.
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The killing sent shockwaves across the couple’s neighborhood on the 2500 block of Camino de las Palmas. Next-door neighbor Katy Wilson told NBC 7 things seemed as normal as can be the day of the shooting.
Just before 6 p.m. that tragic Monday, Wilson said she heard loud sounds from the Shepherd's home that she thought came from a hammer.
“I said, 'Oh, I guess he’s hammering,' because there were three more shots, I guess, and then quiet, and I thought, 'Oh, I guess he fixed whatever he was hammering,' " Wilson said.
Wilson later learned when sheriff’s deputies flooded her community that what she actually heard were gunshots. She recalled not hearing anything suspicious before the shots rang out.
"No screaming, no fighting, no nothing," Wilson said. "It’s very mysterious.”
Wilson added that the Shepherds, who have two young boys, a toddler and an infant, seemed like a nice family.
Noah's friends are still in shock over what happened. Erik O’Dell, who attended seminary school with the victim in Escondido, described his reaction upon hearing of the tragedy.
“When I heard the details of what happened I was numb,” O’Dell said. “There are no words.”
O’Dell reiterated Wilson’s comments and said the couple did not appear to be going through any hardships.
“There was just no indication that anything was other than good,” O’Dell said. “They just welcomed their second boy not too long ago.”
While Noah's loved ones process their shock and grief, members of the San Diego Reformed Presbyterian Church, where Noah was a pastor, remember him as an extraordinary family man.
"Noah was brilliant, a true scholar of the Bible and knew Greek and Hebrew quite well," Pastor Nathan Eshelman said in a text message to NBC 7. "He was a godly man, a good dad and husband, and extremely humble.”
