The woman's "blood-curdling" screams appear to be part of an argument rather than the scream of terror that the phrase "blood-curdling" often implies. Indeed the body found was male, so chances are she was the one firing the weapon. The weapon involved sounded like "a BB gun or air rifle". These weapons are designed to be non-lethal (to humans anyway). Even you Duncan, have suggested playing a game involving shooting each other with airsoft pistols at least once (the reason this didn't happen was the possibility of collateral damage). The weapon turned out to be a paintball gun, a weapon I would expect to be less lethal than a BB gun or air rifle due to the fact it is designed to be fired at a human target. I will admit that the neighbours did the wrong thing by turning over and going back to sleep - the use of ANY (physical) weapon in a heated argument is grounds for calling the police (psychological ones are debatable) -- but this appears to be a case of accidental manslaughter rather than premeditated murder. I once saw a strange guy running after a scared looking woman who had walked quickly into a back alley. Me and a couple of mates armed ourselves and followed them in expecting to break up a rape. Instead it was some sort of twisted sex game and we interrupted the couple in flagrante. The couple were pretty annoyed with us too, called us perverts for staring at