Denver man accused of shooting wife and son in next room

A 30-year-old Denver man has been charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed his wife while his son slept in the next room, according to an affidavit.

His affidavit states that Tyler Nelson called 911 around 1 a.m. on Sept. 24 to report an accidental shooting during a drunken argument about gun safety. However, during interviews with the 30-year-old, investigators noticed discrepancies in his story.

The shooting occurred in the 600 block of South Dayton Street in Denver's Windsor neighborhood.

Nelson told dispatchers that during the argument his finger slipped, he grabbed the trigger of the Remington 870 shotgun, which was reportedly still in the carrying case, and shot his wife, 30-year-old Breanna Canter, in the jaw, the statement said affidavit.

When investigators examined Canter's body, there were multiple wounds on her upper right chest and chin area that “did not appear to be consistent with Nelson's explanation for the shooting,” police wrote in the affidavit.

The preliminary investigation of the crime scene also did not agree with Nelson's explanation of events, police said.

Canter was pronounced dead on scene at the apartment about 1:20 a.m. and Nelson was taken into custody, Denver police said.

“During the entire time Nelson was at police headquarters, he never once asked how his wife was doing,” police wrote in the affidavit. “He never asked anyone how his son was doing. … He really showed no emotion about what happened.”

Nelson told police that he and Canter had been arguing about him “playing games on his phone and not paying attention to her,” the affidavit states. He said he went to the bathroom and when he returned she took the gun out of the closet and started asking him about safety.

When Nelson saw Canter get the shotgun from the closet, he said he stood up and fought with her over the gun, claiming she tried to “smack him away” at one point, the police affidavit said.

He told her to drop the gun and said it wasn't safe to handle it because the two had both been drinking, according to the affidavit.

Nelson said he confronted Breanna and the gun was pointed upward at her head as he tried to move the gun away, police said. Apparently his knuckle got caught on the trigger through the soft casing and the gun “went off.”

Nelson told investigators that the gun was never removed from the case and that he did not know it was loaded, police said in the affidavit. However, when investigators arrived at the apartment, the shotgun was not in the case, it was leaning muzzle up against an open closet and none of the officers had touched the weapon, the affidavit said.

When investigators confronted Nelson about the gun not being in the case, his story began to change, the affidavit states. He told police he was no longer sure if the gun was in a suitcase but didn't know when or how it was removed.