A man accused of shooting his girlfriend in the legs Saturday told police that they had been struggling over the gun and it went off when he pulled it from the waistband of his pants, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The woman, identified in court records as Megan Johnson, was transported to a local hospital for treatment. She suffered a shattered right femur and flesh wound to her left leg, court records show.
Vadim V. Paliy, 27, of Ridgefield appeared Monday in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder.
He wore a suicide-prevention smock given to inmates who may try to harm themselves with standard jail clothing.
Judge David Gregerson appointed Paliy a defense attorney and set his bail at $200,000, after he declined to address the prosecution’s bail request. He will be arraigned Jan. 20. In the meantime, Paliy is not to have contact with Johnson.
At about 2:20 p.m. Saturday, Paliy called 911 from the parking lot of the Ridgefield Police Department and allegedly said that he had shot his girlfriend and wanted to turn himself in.
He said Johnson was at their apartment on North Simons Street, and was still alive when he left, the probable cause affidavit states.
Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies responded to both the police station and the residence. They found Paliy sitting in the parking lot at the station next to a black handgun.
Other officers located Johnson at the apartment, where she was suffering from gunshot wounds to her upper legs. She was transported to a hospital via ambulance, court documents said.
In an interview at the hospital, Johnson told officers that she and Paliy had been fighting over money. She said he had recently retrieved some of his guns from police evidence. The firearms had been seized last year as part of a domestic violence incident and were officially released, the affidavit states.
Johnson and Paliy gave different stories to police, according to the affidavit. She said Paliy threatened to shoot her, then told her it would make him happier to kill her dog first. Then he lowered the gun and shot her in the leg.
Paliy told police that during their argument, he had intended to pull the gun from his waistband to ask Johnson, “Is this what you want?” after she lunged for it, and it fired before he could say anything. He said the safety must have been off, according to court records.
