A Salt Lake City woman has been charged with killing her live-in girlfriend as she tried to flee from her on a bicycle.
According to the charges, witnesses told police that on Aug. 17, Patrice Ann Winward, 31, and her girlfriend, Nicole Carter, 31, were riding bicycles as they engaged in a “heated verbal argument,” shouting obscenities from each other. The witnesses said Carter was trying to get away from Winward. They heard several gunshots, and the arguing stopped.
When police officers arrived at 885 W. South Temple just after 3:30 a.m., they found Winward performing CPR on Carter, who had been shot in the torso. Medical personnel pronounced Carter dead, and Winward left the scene claiming she had a medical emergency at home.
The charges state that Winward later told police she had been arguing with Carter and fired several shots “to prevent her from leaving.” She also admitted she lied about why she left the scene of the shooting, and that she gave the gun to another person with instructions to hide it in a storm drain. The gun was later recovered there.
Police found seven shell casings and discovered one bullet struck an electronic road sign and another broke a window in a nearby building.
Winward was charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; possession of a firearm by a restricted person and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies; and six counts of felony discharge of a firearm, third-degree felonies. She is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County jail.
