Wewoka Man Says Wife's Shooting Death Was Joke Gone Bad

A Seminole County man told police he was trying to scare his wife when he accidentally shot and killed her.

Prosecutors filed homicide charges against Melvin Darrell Streater, 74. Those charges include first degree murder, second degree murder or first degree manslaughter.

Investigators say Streater shot his wife, 73-year-old Trevia Sue Streater on Wednesday, September 4 at their home in Wewoka. She was transported by medical helicopter to a hospital in Holdenville where she later died.

9/5/2013 Related Story: Elderly Man Arrested In Shooting Death Of Wife In Wewoka

According to an affidavit, Streater told police the couple had just returned from taking their dog to be groomed, when he "took his medication and had one or two glasses of whiskey." Streater said he then took his .38 caliber revolver outside to clean it. He told investigators that he shot the gun once at a tree, when his wife came out and told him to stop shooting. He then pointed the gun at his wife to "play a joke on Trevia and scare her when he pulled the trigger, striking her once in the stomach," the affidavit states.

The couple's granddaughter, Dana Streater, lives on the property and saw her grandmother lying on the floor. Dana Streater told investigators her grandfather shot two rounds at her but she was not hit.