The traumatised girlfriend of a British doctor killed after he was shot in the head by a stray bullet as he lay in bed has told of her grief.
Katherine Shepard desperately tried to save Matthew Willson, 31, in their home in the upmarket suburb of Brookhaven, in Atlanta, Georgia, where they were visiting friends.
But the astrophysicist lost blood quickly and, although he was rushed to hospital, the doctor died of his injuries.
A gun was shot into his apartment from a different building but Dr Willson was not purposely targeted, police believe.
Holding back the tears today, Katherine, 25, said: "We were in bed when we heard a gun going off. At first there were just a few gunshots, then there were more and it sounded as if whoever it was had emptied out their clip.
"I turned to Matthew and said, ‘I’m going to call the cops’. His last words were, ‘Sure, I’m sure they are just messing around’.
"Then the shots started again and that’s when I heard a small explosion by the side of the bed.
"I remember a piece of the wall hitting me on the leg. I turned on the light, looked round and Matthew was slumped in front of me. I could see he had been shot in the head."
Dr Willson, from Chertsey, Surrey, called 911 and tried to stem the flow of blood with a towel as she urged her partner to “stay with me”.
The pair had met when Matthew was studying at Georgia State University three years ago.
Katherine, also an astrophysicist, told The Sun : "We had a long-distance relationship. He would stay up late to call me when he was back in England after I had finished work.
"He was a great guy and I really loved him dearly. He was fantastic and had a great sense of humour.
"We both knew we had found the one. We knew we were going to get married and we had talked about where we were going to live and what we would call our children.
"I just can’t believe this has happened.”
Matthew’s heartbroken sister, Kate Easingwood, yesterday posted a picture of her brother online with the caption: “This world is so unfair.”
Sergeant Jacob Kissel, of Brookhaven police, said: “No arrests have been made, but the incident is being treated as homicide.
“The original report of the shooting was from a parallel street and we are connecting the incidents. It was a single shot to the head that hit him.
“The incident appears to be a random act of individuals discharging firearms recklessly.”
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in the USA, and are in contact with US authorities."
