A Cambria County woman is behind bars without bail after she allegedly shot and killed her husband during an argument over his habit of leaving a loaded handgun within reach of their children. Dawn Marie Freeman, 44, told state police investigators she pointed the 9mm pistol at 40-year-old Bradley Freeman to teach him a lesson about gun safety before pulling the trigger, striking him once in the chest.
Pennsylvania State Police Troop A, working alongside Adams Township and Richland Township police, arrived at the couple's home on Mine Road at 6:37 p.m. on Sunday, according to a Law & Crime report citing the troop's public information release. Troopers found Bradley Freeman unresponsive in the living room with an apparent gunshot wound, and authorities began life-saving measures before emergency responders arrived, according to WKRC.
A Years-Long Fight Over an Unsecured Gun
According to the police probable cause affidavit, Dawn Freeman told investigators her husband had routinely left the 9mm handgun in unsecured locations accessible to their children for at least two years, despite her repeated pleas that he stop. The affidavit's account, detailed by Law & Crime, describes a long-simmering household tension that boiled over on the day of the shooting, with Freeman allegedly pointing the gun at her husband during the argument before firing.
Immediately after the shot, Freeman allegedly threw the handgun across the living room and screamed, prompting her son, who was inside the home, to attempt CPR on his father while she called 911 dispatchers, the same affidavit account states. Police have not disclosed the ages of the couple's two children referenced in the case.
Coroner Confirms Cause of Death
Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees completed an autopsy on Monday, officially determining that Bradley Freeman died from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The finding confirms the physical cause of death reported at the scene the previous evening.
Dawn Freeman has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment, per WKRC. She was taken to Cambria County Prison, where she is being held without bail. Under Article I, Section 14 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, defendants facing criminal homicide charges that carry potential life imprisonment are generally detained without bond pending trial, according to FindLaw.
Intent Versus the Letter of the Law
Freeman's stated intent, as described in the affidavit, was not to kill her husband but to make an extreme point about the danger of leaving a loaded weapon out in the open. But under Pennsylvania law, pulling the trigger while aiming a loaded firearm directly at someone's chest meets the threshold for criminal homicide, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment regardless of intent, Law & Crime reports.
Adams Township is a rural municipality in Cambria County near Windber, where major violent crime investigations typically fall to Pennsylvania State Police Troop A, based out of Ebensburg. The agency has handled other serious cases in the area recently, including a fatal standoff in Barr Township earlier this year.
No Storage Mandate Under Current Pennsylvania Law
Pennsylvania does not currently have a mandatory firearm safe-storage or child access prevention law, meaning prosecutors cannot charge gun owners solely for leaving a loaded weapon accessible to household members, according to the Giffords Law Center. That gap is part of why charges in this case center on homicide and reckless endangerment rather than a storage violation.
State lawmakers have been debating a fix. In June, the Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 2244, sponsored by Rep. Tim Briggs, which would require secure storage of firearms left unattended near minors or unauthorized individuals. The bill remains part of an active legislative push in Harrisburg, even as this shooting unfolded entirely outside any such requirement.
Research from CeaseFirePA and the American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that 4.6 million American minors live in homes with at least one unlocked firearm, and more than 70% of youth unintentional shootings involve weapons accessed inside family residences. Separate policy research from Everytown for Gun Safety has found that states with mandatory child access prevention and safe storage laws see lower rates of accidental domestic shootings compared to states without such requirements. Hoodline reported on a similar dispute last month in a case involving a Franklin couple charged after their child shot himself with an unsecured gun.
The investigation into Bradley Freeman's death remains ongoing, according to WKRC. No further court dates for Dawn Freeman have been disclosed.
