MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) — Police have charged a 74-year-old Mount Pleasant man with murdering his wife.
Mount Pleasant Police say John Magwood shot and killed his wife, Garden Magwood, inside their home Wednesday morning.
Mrs. Magwood was pronounced dead at the scene. Police say they found her body inside the bedroom of their home on Atlantic Street in Mount Pleasant's Old Village just after 6:30 a.m.
Police say Magwood initially tried to pass off his wife's death as a suicide to investigators.
According to an affidavit, police found Garden Magwood on the floor of a bedroom with three gunshot wounds to her chest. They said a .410 Taurus revolver (that shoots three rounds at once) was in her right hand.
They said Magwood told officers that she had shot herself during a struggle as he was trying to take the gun from her.
Investigators found, however, that the gun was fired from a distance and she had no gunshot residue showing that she had the gun.
John Magwood has been charged with murder and possession of a firearm during a violent crime. He was given a $200,000 surety bond for the weapons charge. Bond is denied for the murder charge.