A woman accused of fatally shooting a 22-year-old Moreno Valley man without intending to kill him was charged Monday with voluntary manslaughter and other offenses.
Teesha Nashay Sauls Lucas, 47, of Moreno Valley, allegedly killed Xavier Cox last April.
Along with manslaughter, Lucas is charged with a sentence-enhancing gun use allegation.
She was being held in lieu of $150,000 bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and was slated to make her initial court appearance Monday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, on the afternoon of April 19, Lucas and Cox were together at a residence in the 13600 block of Daimler Street, just south of Cottonwood Avenue, when there was an unspecified act involving a handgun that led to a shot being fired into the victim.
Patrol deputies and an ambulance were immediately called to the location, and Cox was taken to nearby Riverside University Medical Center with a mortal wound from which he died minutes later.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Jarred Bishop said that Central Homicide Unit detectives detained Lucas for questioning. He said she was “cooperative with the investigation and was later released.”
However, the investigation continued over the ensuing months, culminating in a determination that Lucas was allegedly responsible for Cox’s death, according to Bishop.
The defendant was arrested without incident on Thursday.
She has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.