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Tarrytown Cops: People Were 'Examining Firearms' When Woman Shot Dead

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Two people were examining guns when a 23-year-old woman was fatally shot inside her Tarrytown townhouse Monday, police said.

Megan Bookstaver, who is from Hicksville, Long Island, was shot in the head just after 4 p.m. on Labor Day in the complex that overlooks the Tappan Zee Bridge, CBS 2's Steve Langford reported. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

"The victim was apparently in the company of two other persons in a fourth-floor bedroom examining firearms when one discharged. She was struck in the head," Tarrytown Police Lt. William Herguth said Tuesday.

Tarrytown Cops: People Were 'Examining Firearms' When Woman Fatally Shot

The weapon, a rifle, was one of several found at the scene, police said. On Tuesday, shooting accessories could be seen through the window of a car parked outside the home.

Police are calling the shooting suspicious. Authorities have not said who was holding the gun when the deadly shot was fired. Eric Gaulin, 25, lives in the home and has not been questioned, WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reported. Gaulin has hired a lawyer, Haskell said.

The parents of Bookstaver's boyfriend were inside the home at the time of the shooting, police told CBS 2. Everyone who was there is cooperating with investigators, police told Langford.

"One of the women who lived next door said it sounded like popping," said Mindy Hartman, who lives a few doors down from Bookstaver's townhouse.

Hartman said she saw the victim and her boyfriend outside shortly before the shooting.

"I don't see them that often, and I saw her just a little while before she was killed, so it was a little weird," Hartman said.

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