Man who killed ex-girlfriend said he was trying to hug her when gun fired

DETROIT (WJBK) - A hearing for a man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend in front of her young child in Detroit started Thursday.

The prosecutor says Earl Maxwell shot Latrese Morris-Dorsey several times inside her home last June. Dorsey's 4-year-old daughter was in the room during the shooting and her 14-year-old son was also in the home.

Today a detective took the stand and read a statement from Maxwell, 37, after his arrest.  He claimed the shooting was accidental, adding he was at his 42-year-old ex-girlfriend's house in the 20060 block of Avon to drop off a car part.  He said he only took out his gun to get to a cigarette lighter in his pocket.

"'I got up to tell her to come on the porch,'" Sgt. Derrick Griffin said, reading the suspect's statement. "'She pulled me to her and I thought she was going to give me a hug.

"'I had my gun in my right hand and she tried to take my gun and she grabbed my wrist. She twirled it around and the gun was going off the whole time.'"

"'I did not know she was shot until she fell.'"

Maxwell turned himself in to police days later. The preliminary hearing will continue next week.

At the time he was charged, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said, "What makes these allegations especially disturbing is that the crime was committed in the presence of one of the deceased children and within earshot of another. They will have to live with these images for the rest of their lives."

The family has a GoFundMe account for the three children now left without their mother. CLICK HERE TO DONATE.