A Georgia professor and mother of three was accidentally shot and killed by her roommate, who believed she was an intruder.
Erica Anderson, 31, died in a shooting in Columbus, Georgia, which authorities have described as accidental, according to reports from WTVM and the Ledger-Inquirer.
Anderson had returned home shortly after midnight on Monday, Oct. 13, following a visit with her husband and children in Indiana, WTVM reported.
Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan told the outlet that Anderson’s roommate had allegedly been receiving terroristic threats from her son. When the woman heard noise in the house while she was sleeping, she grabbed a gun and fired two shots. The second bullet struck Anderson, Bryan said.
“You have to think about the roommate that shot her,” Bryan reportedly told WTVM. “I’m sure she’s devastated as anyone would be under the circumstances.”
Anderson joined Columbus State University in August as a lecturer in costumes in the Department of Theatre & Dance, the school said on its website.
“Prior to her current role, she taught costumes at Southern Utah University and the University of Florida,” the university said. “She worked professionally in theaters and opera houses across the U.S., including the Sarasota Opera, Indiana Repertory Theatre, and Utah Shakespeare Theatre, and backstage for IATSE on touring Broadway shows.”
A GoFundMe has been launched to support Anderson’s family. The organizer shared that her husband is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
“Erica had just started this semester at Columbus State University as a professor in the theater department,” the organizer wrote. “She was so passionate about her work and her students, and she was truly excited about building her future with the university community she had already come to love.”
