A Gaithersburg man was sentenced Wednesday afternoon in Montgomery County Circuit Court to 45 years in prison for fatally shooting his wife in 2020, according to the county state’s attorney office.
Judge Harry Storm sentenced Allen Price Jr., 45, who had pleaded guilty in December 2023 to charges of second-degree murder and use of a firearm in commission of a crime of violence pertaining to the death of his wife, Natasha Price, the state’s attorney’s office said Thursday in a statement.
According to the statement, Price Jr. shot his wife Sept. 17, 2020, in their home on the 19400 block of Sandy Lake Drive, then jumped out of a second-story window and attempted to flee. County police searching the neighborhood found him hiding in a wooded area with a loaded .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun next to him, according to charging documents.
In the home, police found Natasha Price “suffering from at least one apparent gunshot wound,” charging documents said. Her two children told police they heard a gunshot and then saw Price, their stepfather, jump from the window.
Natasha Price was “transported to a local hospital where she remained on life support” until she died on Oct. 9, 2020, the statement said. Prosecutors learned while reviewing the case that Natasha Price had “confided in friends and relatives that she had intended to leave her husband and cut him off financially,” the statement said.
“We aggressively prosecute domestic violence cases, and in this matter, we are thankful that the judge imposed a penalty above the Maryland State Sentencing Guidelines,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in the statement. “The defendant fatally shot his wife while her children were present inside of the home. We express our deepest condolences to the victim’s family and share in the grief over this senseless loss of life.”