UPDATE: Opening arguments set in Christmas Eve shooting case Tuesday
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(ABC 6 News) – UPDATE: Jury selection finished Monday and opening arguments for Philip Eugene, 35, Turner’s trial is set to begin on Tuesday, August 15.
(ABC 6 News) – UPDATE: Court documents reveal that the Rochester woman who was shot in the head on Christmas Eve likely survived without medical intervention for about 16 hours before law enforcement arrived Christmas Day.
Phillip Eugene Turner, 34, was arraigned on charges of 2nd-degree attempted murder–not premeditated; 1st-degree assault–great bodily harm; and 2nd-degree assault with a deadly weapon–substantial bodily harm Tuesday, Dec. 28.
“As of the evening of December 27, 2022, Victim was still alive, but she was unconscious, her condition was
grave, and her prognosis was uncertain,” Turner’s criminal complaint reads.
Moilanen said when police knocked on the door, the woman's 5-year-old answered and told them "mom was hurt."
According to court documents, police claim Turner said at one point that the Rochester woman took his gun from him and shot herself in the head, then later backtracked and claimed he did not remember what had happened.
Court documents detail the woman’s injury, which occurred on the left side of her head. Police speculated in the report that her injury would have been more consistent with a bullet fired by a right-handed assailant than the claim that the right-handed woman shot herself with her non-dominant hand, at a downward angle.
Court documents claim that Turner also did not seek help for the woman or her children, even anonymously, after leaving the apartment after 7 p.m. Dec. 24.
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(ABC 6 News) – A Rochester woman was taken to St. Marys with a gunshot wound to the head Christmas Day, after her boyfriend allegedly shot her on Christmas Eve with her two young children in the apartment.
Phillip Eugene Turner, 34, of Rochester, faces one charge of 2nd-degree attempted murder after being arrested Dec. 25.
According to Capt. Casey Moilanen of the Rochester Police Department, officers responded to the woman’s apartment in the 500 block of 19th Street NW at about 11:54 a.m. Christmas Day, after the children’s father told them he was supposed to pick up his 2- and 5-year-old children for the day, but couldn’t reach their mother.
Moilanen said when police knocked on the door, the woman’s 5-year-old answered and told them “mom was hurt.”
Police allegedly found the 37-year-old woman unconscious but alive in one of the bedrooms, with a gunshot wound to her head.
Rochester police believe the woman was shot on the night of the 24th.
Moilanen said RPD determined that the woman’s current boyfriend, Turner, had likely been to the house on Christmas Eve.
According to Moilanen, officers located Turner Dec. 25 in the 3300 block of Whaler’s Lane NW, surveiled the home, and saw him leave out the back of the residence.
Police took Turner into custody at about 5:12 p.m. near W Frontage Road and 55th Street, Moilanen said, and allegedly found a magazine with bullets that were the same caliber as the one used to shoot the woman on him.
Moilanen also said a K-9 tracked Turner’s path from Whaler’s Lane to Frontage Road, and located a handgun in a snowbank along his path that matched the ammunition.