Six months after a Magna woman claimed she shot her husband in self-defense, she has been charged with killing him.
Cynthia Lynn Vincent, 41, was charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony.
At 12:28 a.m. on July 6, Vincent called 911 and reported that she had shot her husband, Michael, at the Magna martial arts studio they owned — Vincent’s House of Goju at 9145 W. Main St. When officers arrived, they found the body of Michael Vincent just inside the main entrance. A revolver was next to his body, and Cynthia Vincent told police she shot her husband with the gun.
According to a probable cause statement, Cynthia Vincent told police she and her husband had been fighting all weekend and that, shortly before the shooting, he had “assaulted and strangled” her. She said that her husband “lunged” at her and she fired the gun.
Witnesses told police that, shortly before the shooting, Cynthia Vincent called them and said, “He keeps coming at me. I’m scared. Come and get him before I kill him. I have my gun out.”
Police said that Cynthia Vincent’s explanation of where she and her husband were when she shot him and where his body fell “didn’t make sense.” And, they added, when she “tried to explain the events again” she “appeared to be guessing at where they were standing during the shooting.” According to police, “the evidence is consistent with Michael leaving through the front door of the business when he was shot in the side of the head.”
Surveillance video at the business showed Cynthia and Michael Vincent “interacting normally … throughout the day” leading up to the shooting, according to the probable cause statement. Cynthia Vincent was seen “engaging in conversation” with her husband, “and embracing and kissing him.”
About two hours before the shooting, Michael “appeared to kiss” his wife as he stepped outside the front door to smoke. While there is no video of the shooting itself, “at no point in the available video is any violence observed,” according to police.
On Tuesday, Cynthia Vincent was booked into the Salt Lake County jail, where she is being held without bail.
