A woman accidentally shot and killed her boyfriend early Thursday while learning how to shoot a rifle in Daytona Beach Shores, police said.

Daytona Beach Shores police were dispatched around 12:27 a.m. to a home along the 3600 block of South Atlantic Avenue.

While responding to the call, Volusia County dispatchers were advised a woman, later identified as 24-year-old Katie Begtrup, had just shot her boyfriend with a rifle and that she claimed it was an accident.

Begtrup told the 911 dispatcher her boyfriend, 31-year-old Robert Branton, was trying to show her how to use the rifle, when she accidentally shot him in the leg, police said.

When officers arrived to the scene, they detained Begtrup outside of the home, pending further investigation. Officers entered the home and provided emergency medical care to Branton, who was then transported to Halifax Hospital Port Orange via ambulance.

Branton died at the hospital at around 1:09 a.m.

Police said the investigation remains ongoing, and no charging decisions have been made at this time.

(Jerry Hume, Staff)