‘impossible to comprehend’

‘I Heard His Breathing Change’: Girlfriend Says Stray Bullet Killed Scientist in Bed

Katherine Shepard’s British boyfriend had arrived in Georgia to visit her hours before a stray bullet took his life.

A Georgia woman is begging those responsible for killing her British boyfriend with a stray bullet earlier this week to come forward. “The smallest thing we could ask for is that whoever did is held accountable,” Katherine Shepard told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Matthew Willson, a British astrophysicist completing post-doctoral work in England, was killed after a bullet from a neighboring apartment building blasted through Shepard’s bedroom wall, hitting him in the head as he slept at about 2 a.m. Sunday, just hours after he arrived in the U.S. “The bullet came through,” she said. “Then I heard his breathing change.” His sister, Kate Willson, said she couldn’t believe he could die so soon after his journey started. “It’s impossible to comprehend how it is even true,” she said. Police said an investigation is underway, though no one has been arrested.