STERLING, Va. (WUSA9) – An airport police officer is dead and his wife sits in jail.
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office says 52-year-old Steven Spradling was shot to death around 9 p.m. on Friday in the couple's Sterling, Va home. Their two grade-school children were home at the time.
Rosangela Spradling, 42, is charged with first degree murder and is being held at the Loudoun County Detention Center without bond.
Several neighbors tell WUSA9, the couple had a rocky relationship. They say Mr. Spradling, had a volatile relationship with neighbors too. One woman, says she feels safer without her neighbor.
"I feel relief he's no longer here. He threatened my life over minor things. He had a lot of anger. Both had a volatile relationship. It's odd seeing his shoes there and him not being in them. I can go outside now where as I couldn't before."
Steven Spradling worked at Dulles Airport and was a 25 year veteran police officer of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
The Loudoun County Sheriff's Department says Spradling's wife shot her husband several times in the 21000 block of Blossom Drive.
"I feel bad for their children who lost both their mother and father. As the years went by, he became more of an alcoholic. He was afraid someone would mess up his lawn. He threatened my life when he thought my dog went to the bathroom in his yard. He said I was a dead woman."
The Sheriff's Office says there have been half a dozen domestic related calls to the home in the past several years.
The neighbors wonder if this was a justified shooting. The Sheriff's office won't comment on that.
MWAA released this statement:
"The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is deeply saddened by the loss of Corporal Steven Spradling, an Airports Authority police officer for more than 25 years. Our condolences are with his loved ones during this difficult time."