Urbana woman fires gun in fight with husband

A 31-year-old woman will be in court Wednesday to answer charges accusing of her creating a panic Tuesday when she fired a handgun during an argument with her husband.

Crystal Davis, 131 Lafayette Ave., was taken to the Tri-County Regional Jail on misdemeanor charges of discharging a firearm within city limits, inducing panic and obstructing a police investigation, Urbana police Chief Matt Lingrell told News Center 7 videographer Eric Higgenbotham.

"She told us that there was some stress in the marriage, that they were having a back-and-forth" when she fired a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun into the ground, in the backyard, as she walked back into the house, Lingrell said. The argument had something to do with their 10-year-old child, which the husband was going to pick up from school, Lingrell said.

No one was hurt, Lingrell said, and the confrontation never became physical.

Police were dispatched to the 100 block of Lafayette Avenue  just before 3 p.m. on a report of domestic violence involving gunfire, Lingrell said, and police arrived to find the woman they described as distraught. "Once she calmed down, she was cooperative," Lingrell said.

She picked up the obstruction charge because police believed she initially tried to hide evidence of the shooting when they arrived, Lingrell said.

Davis is known to police, he said, and police have been dispatched to her address in the past -- but not for any incident that involved guns or gunfire.