Man Shoots Cancer-Stricken Wife to End Suffering, 'She Died From My Shots, But It's Not Murder'

A Kentucky man claims he fatally shot his cancer-stricken wife because she asked him to end her suffering, according to USA TODAY.

Ernest Chris Chumbley, 48, of London, Ky., told WKYT on Wednesday that he fired multiple shots that killed his wife, Virginia M. Chumbley, 44.

"I shot her," he admitted to the local station from jail. "She died from my shots, but it's not murder."

Chumbley plead not guilty in Laurel County District Court and will appear in court again on Sept. 5 for a preliminary hearing, USA Today reported.

The county's sheriff's office said Chumbley called the police around 2:30 a.m. and told them he shot his wife, whom deputies found dead in the bedroom. Chumbley was reportedly waiting for officers in the living room. He was then arrested and is being held on $200,000 bond.

"She told me she wanted me to end her pain. All I said, 'Jay, all I've got is what the doctor gave you. She said 'no, I want you to stop my pain for good,'" Chumbley said.

"We're still investigating this. It's in the early stages. And there are other people to interview on this case. So we're not going to speculate on what the circumstances are," said Gilbert Acciardo of the county's sheriff's office.

Neighbors said the Chumbleys were a very loving, happily married couple of 20 years, though cancer had been a lot for Virginia Chumbley to deal with.

"She was hurting real bad," neighbor Stanley Campbell told USA Today. "We could hear her at night like she was gasping for air."

Chumbley said he doesn't blame the officers for arresting him, who noted the man has given them no trouble throughout the entire ordeal.

"I just did what she asked," he said. "And I would expect no different from her if I was asking her."