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Georgia sheriff's deputy accused of shooting wife at downtown Nashville hotel

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Posted at 5:21 AM, Oct 04, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-04 15:12:31-04

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Glynn County, Georgia sheriff's deputy faces attempted criminal homicide charges after police say he shot his wife at a downtown Nashville hotel.

According to an arrest affidavit, 59-year-old Randy Austin and his wife were out drinking downtown Thursday afternoon and returned to their room at the Holston House hotel on 7th Avenue North.

Officers were called to the hotel a short time later, after his wife was shot in the arm and the head. She remains in critical condition at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Austin told police he put his firearm on the nightstand in the room then walked away from it, and then heard a shot. Austin denied shooting his wife and continued to say his wife did not shoot herself.

"Evidence suggests (his wife's) right arm was up in a defensive nature and she was in a kneeling or squatting position at the time of the shooting," police said in the report. "The round passed through her right forearm and lodged into her right temple."

Austin is held on $500,000 bond.