Albuquerque woman charged in fatal shooting of father

A woman was arrested Tuesday for allegedly shooting and killing her father on Albuquerque's West Side. 

Summer Coughran, 28, is charged with an open count of murder in the death of 65-year-old Kirk Coughran. She does not yet have an attorney. 

Albuquerque police were dispatched around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday to the 4000 block of Wildfire NW, near Coors and Paradise, after receiving a call that a man had been shot, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. 

"Officers who initially responded to the home located Kirk Coughran with gunshot wounds," said Gilbert Gallegos, spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department, in a news release. "He died at the scene."

Summer Coughran called 911 and told police, "Hello, I just shot my dad," the complaint states. "He tried to attack me and he's abused me my whole life since I was a kid."

Coughran told police her father woke up and began hitting her and said he was "known to beat women" and was a "known pedophile," though he had never been convicted of any such crimes, according to the complaint.

Coughran told officers that after the shooting, she refused to check on him, the complaint states. The daughter said she only shot him once and he seemed fine.

Police spoke with Coughran's brother, who told officers that their father was not physically abusive, but his sister "saw incidents differently" than he did, according to the complaint.

Officers spoke again with Coughran, who said her father was asleep while she was smoking a cigarette, but later told police they got into an argument after she broke a coffee pot and that he attacked her after, the complaint states. 

"Homicide detectives interviewed Coughran, who gave inconsistent statements that did not reflect the physical evidence found at the scene," Gallegos said. "She also could not articulate any actions that were performed by her father that would place a reasonable person in fear for their life."

Police found multiple police reports involving Coughran, including one that states her father called 911 after she started jumping on her bed with a knife in her hand, according to the complaint. 

"She is diagnosed with schizophrenia and may have been off her medication in reference to recent behavior," the complaint states. "Kirk did not want police officers to speak to (Coughran) due to her possibly 'acting out' after contact."

Other reports state that Coughran had previously threatened her father and cousin with a knife on two separate occasions. In those cases, Coughran was arrested or taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital for treatment. 

Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857.