Atlanta Attorney Says He Accidentally Fatally Shot Wife as They Drove Home – and Blames Black Lives Matter Protestors

BY KAREN MIZOGUCHI 10/01/2016 AT 01:35 PM EDT



A prominent Atlanta attorney says he accidentally shot his executive wife in the back when a gun in his lap fired after their car hit a speed bump.

Claud "Tex" McIver was in the back seat when he says his .38 snub-nose revolver went off, wounding his wife Diane who was seated in the front passenger seat. She died in surgery several hours later at Emory University Hospital last Monday. She was 63.

McIver says he and his wife were being driven home by Diane's best friend when their Ford Explorer was approached by several individuals during a week in which there were many Black Lives Matter protests in the area, according to Bill Crane, a McIver family friend, who spoke to the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday.

Fearing they were about to be carjacked, McIver pulled out his gun from the center console as a precaution. McIver was falling asleep with the gun in his lap and has no recollection of pulling the trigger, Crane told the newspaper.

http://www.people.com/article/claude-tex-mciver-accidentally-shot-wife-diane-in-car