A Florida woman has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after admitting to shooting a man in the head with his own gun. The incident unfolded in Winter Springs, a city just north of Orlando, and was sparked by an argument over their 8-year-old son.
Laurie Adams, 39, pleaded guilty to first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm in connection with the killing of 51-year-old Adel Tawfeek. The tragic event took place on June 5, when police were called to an apartment on Sheoah Boulevard after receiving a report of a shooting. While officers were on their way, the caller—later identified as Adams—told dispatchers that she had shot someone in the head.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found Tawfeek on the back porch with a gunshot wound to his head. He was rushed to a hospital but did not survive.
According to Adams, the argument started when Tawfeek became angry after noticing that their 8-year-old son, who has autism, had soiled his pants. He began yelling at both the boy and his mother, which escalated tensions in the home.
After cleaning up their son and putting him to bed, Adams said Tawfeek turned his anger toward her, pushing her against a wall before stepping outside to sit on the porch with a beer.
Feeling overwhelmed, Adams took about 15 minutes to calm herself down. Then, she went to Tawfeek’s bedroom closet, retrieved his gun, and loaded it.
She later told investigators that she walked into the living room and saw Tawfeek smoking on the porch. At that moment, she stepped outside, raised the gun, and pulled the trigger, shooting him in the head.
The investigation also revealed that Adams had sent a text message to her mother days before the shooting, asking her to take care of her son “if anything were to happen.”
Her guilty plea led to an immediate 25-year prison sentence, closing the case but leaving behind a devastating reality for their child.
