CASPER — A 26-year-old Casper woman faces five criminal charges for allegedly shooting at a woman who said she’d had an affair and was pregnant by the husband of a friend.
She’s accused of ignoring her boyfriend’s advice that it “was not their fight” and confronting the other woman.
Rylie Nichole Woolson waived her preliminary hearing in Casper Circuit Court on Thursday and faces two counts of aggravated assault and battery, two counts of reckless endangering, and a battery charge in Natrona County District Court.
Court records show that Casper Police officers were called to apartments in the 700 block of South Walsh Street at 10:23 a.m. on May 29 following a call from a woman reporting she had been shot at.
Officers learned the 25-year-old woman making the complaint and another 38-year-old woman, apparently hit by a bullet fragment, had been in the communal yard of the apartment complex.
The shooter had left the scene in a black truck with her boyfriend and several children.
The arrest affidavit states the younger woman had been in a dating relationship with the older woman’s husband and had shown up to return some of his property and collect some of hers.
The 25-year-old told the 38-year-old that she was pregnant as a result of the relationship.
“A verbal altercation occurred between (the two women) in the communal yard of the apartment complex,” the affidavit states.
Woolson, a friend of the older woman, then “came out her apartment and pulled a gun on” the 25-year-old woman.
Confrontation
The confrontation ended and then Woolson went back to her apartment, reappeared, and “fired a round over the side of the railing, at the ground, causing (the 38-year-old woman) to be struck on the left bicep, by shrapnel from the bullet,” the affidavit states.
An interview of the younger woman stated that she had been told by her boyfriend that he was divorced, but recently learned that he was married and intended to stay with his wife.
She told police she went to the apartment complex to end the relationship and collect some of her property and give back some of his when she met his wife.
The 38-year-old allegedly asked Woolson’s boyfriend if her husband had ever mentioned he was going to divorce her.
“He then went to ask Woolson about it,” the 25-year-old told police.
Woolson then appeared and told the woman that being “pregnant was a bad look for her” and then returned to her apartment.
Woolson reappeared with a handgun and pointed it at the 25-year-old’s head and face area, the affidavit states.
The woman said she grabbed both of Woolson’s arms and tried to move the gun away from herself and struggled with the gun.
The 25-year-old woman “recalled feeling the gun pressed against her own stomach, heard a click noise and believed (Woolson) pulled the trigger,” the affidavit states.
‘Another Clip’
The 25-year-old’s ex-boyfriend and Woolson’s boyfriend intervened, and Woolson’s boyfriend ejected the magazine from the gun, the affidavit says.
Woolson told them that she had “another clip” upstairs and returned to the apartment with the gun.
The younger woman told police she did not see Woolson shoot, but heard a loud bang and the wife of her ex-boyfriend immediately said “ow” and grabbed her arm, the affidavit states.
After the shooting, the 25-year-old told police she heard Woolson say, “I told you I was going to shoot you.”
She said she then saw Woolson carry a small child out of the apartment while still holding the pistol.
In an interview with police, the 38-year-old wife said she was upset after learning about her husband’s affair and walked away toward Woolson’s apartment. She said Woolson came out and told the 25-year-old woman that she “she needed to leave and was disrespectful.”
The wife told police that she and the woman began talking and “heard a pop” and was unsure if it was a gunshot. She said she did not see Woolson with a weapon but was struck by something in the arm.
The woman’s husband also told police that he had been outside of his apartment with his ex-girlfriend and wife when Woolson came down and told his ex-girlfriend that she needed to leave.
He told Woolson that she did not have to leave and that she was on public property, the affidavit states. The man said he saw something in Woolson’s hand but was unsure if it was gun, and that his ex-girlfriend and Woolson “grappled.”
He told police he pulled Woolson off his ex-girlfriend and that Woolson’s boyfriend helped and Woolson returned to her apartment.
Shortly afterward, he “recalled his ears ringing for an unknown reason, but rationalized that it may have been a gunshot that caused his ears to ring,” the affidavit states.
Woolson’s 24-year-old boyfriend told police that Woolson had filed a protection order against him, but he had been at her apartment that day to help her babysit five children.
One of the children mentioned that the 38-year-old woman was outside talking to someone and it “threw up a red flag with (Woolson),” he said.
‘Scared For His Life’
He told police Woolson went out of the apartment and he heard a scuffle and went down and to find the husband of Woolson’s friend trying to get a gun away from Woolson.
He then followed Woolson back to the apartment.
“He told her to stop, that it wasn’t their fight,” the affidavit states. “(Woolson) said something to the effect of, ‘Fine, I have another clip.’ (Woolson) went to the room, grabbed another clip, inserted it into the gun and racked the slide.
“(Her boyfriend) got out of her way, and admitted he was scared for his life.”
The boyfriend told police Woolson walked out of the apartment pointed the gun at the ground and told the 25-year-old woman “you need to leave” and fired, the affidavit states. He was “freaking out.”
Woolson then brought the children to a truck and had the gun in her waistband. Once in the truck, she put the gun in the side door panel.
He drove her and the children to his mother’s house and hid the gun in a shoebox.
On the way back to Casper, he said they were pulled over by police. He told police all the children were in the apartment on the couch and did not see Woolson fire the weapon, the affidavit states.
Woolson told police that she was told by her boyfriend that her friend, the 38-year-old woman, needed her. She said she saw her friend “shaking” and mad, so she went down and told the 25-year-old woman to leave.
When she didn’t, Woolson said she returned to her apartment, got her pistol and said she was at the top of the apartment stairs when the 25-year-old walked at her.
Woolson said she “fired a warning shot into the air” and was told by her boyfriend she could not do that and that they needed to leave.
When confronted about how her version differed from those of the other witnesses, she admitted that in an attempt to “scare” the 25-year-old she got her handgun and when told by her boyfriend it was not their fight, threatened to call the police on him and have him arrested for violating the protection order.
The affidavit states that she admitted initially taking the gun outside, but that it didn’t have a magazine in it. She denied pointing it at anyone.
‘Shouldn’t Have’ Fired
Woolson later told the investigator that when she said she had “another clip” she was referring to the loaded one on her bed, and that her boyfriend was holding all the other magazines to the weapon.
She admitted firing the gun into the ground to get the 25-year-old woman to leave.
“(Woolson) confirmed that the argument had nothing to do with her, that she only interjected herself as (the 38-year-old wife) was her friend and would want a friend to do the same for her,” the affidavit states.
She also told police that the 25-year-old was disturbing “her family’s peace and property.”
The affidavit says Woolson told police she “shouldn’t have” fired the gun and was willing not to own a gun after the events that occurred.
She also filled out a timeline of the events for the investigator and then tried to “grab and crumple up the written statement” out of a detective’s hand, the affidavit states.
Court records show Woolson is free on a $25,000 cash or surety bond.
Both the aggravated assault and battery charges carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Both reckless endangering charges are misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail. The battery charge carries a potential penalty of up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
