Mason husband tells cops he was holding gun

Scroll to the bottom of this story to listen to the 911 call.

Timothy Sparks, the husband of the 56-year-old woman who was found dead from a gunshot wound in her Mason home, told police he was holding the shotgun when it went off, and that he didn't know it was loaded.

Police released those details and others about the death of Susan Sparks, who was found dead Monday in the Mackenzie Court home she shared with her husband.

Police said they responded to the home in the Heritage Club subdivision around 6:45 a.m. Monday. They entered, but were very cautious because they heard that shots had been fired.

"Officer Shaffer and I had our duty pistols at the low ready due to the nature of the call and shots being fired inside the residence," Sgt. Robert Temple wrote in the report.

The two police officers headed toward the bedroom where they heard Timothy Sparks yelling. Once officers entered the bedroom, they saw Sparks on the left side of the bed with his wife lying beside him, covered in blood.

Police led Sparks out of the bedroom. He began asking if his wife was still alive.

"I advised him that she had died and he became very emotional and was screaming ... , " Temple wrote.

Police began asking what had happened, and Sparks said his wife was walking around with the shotgun saying, "It will be better this way," according to the report. He said he tried to get the gun away from his wife, but she had the barrel aimed toward her chest.

Sparks said as he tried to pull the gun away, his wife, who was sitting on the bed, began to lean back onto the bed, bringing her husband on top of her.

"Mr. Sparks stated his wife was stronger than he was due to a recent shoulder surgery," Temple wrote.

That's when Sparks told police officers he was holding the shotgun when it went off, and that he didn't know it was loaded.

At that point, police stopped asking questions and escorted Sparks to the police department for further investigation. Detectives obtained a search warrant to further the investigation and began looking over the scene.

On Monday, Sgt. Craig Kline of the Mason Police Department did say that the death was "questionable."

On Tuesday, no charges had been filed.

Remembering Susan Sparks

The Sparkses had been married 33 years and have three sons, according to her and her husband's Facebook pages.

Susan Sparks, who goes by Susan Francis Sparks on Facebook, used to work at Ford Motor Co., and she's a member of the Fairfield High School Class of 1977 Facebook group.

Timothy Sparks would regularly post on her wall, sharing videos, photos of the two or photos of the couple's sons. In June 2014, he shared a photo on his wife's Facebook wall showing her and her son, a Marine.

"Proud Momma!" Timothy Sparks wrote.

A month before that, the couple had celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. He marked the occasion with a photo of the two on the beach when they were younger. Susan is seen in sunglasses and a hat, smiling, her hand on her husband's chest.

"Happy Anniversary Sweetheart," Timothy Sparks wrote at the time. " '33' yrs today!"

Sparks grew up in Mason, and is a general manager at Kerry Chevrolet Inc., according to his Facebook page. He and his wife purchased their home on Mackenzie Court in 2000, according to property records.

He's a member of the Preble Shawnee Class of 1975 Facebook group and regularly posts photos of his "three boys." He also posts frequently about veterans issues, fishing and baseball. He had just recently returned from watching spring training games in Arizona, according to his Facebook page.

"One last night at the ballpark ... ," he posted just three days ago.

The 911 call

A 911 call acquired by The Enquirer sheds more light on Susan Sparks' death.

In the 911 call, Sparks told dispatchers that he needed an ambulance because his wife had been shot.

"I was getting ready for work and I came in and she was standing there with the gun," Sparks said.

"I said, 'What are you doing?' " he told dispatchers.

Sparks then told dispatchers that he tried to take the shotgun away from her and the gun went off. He didn't know who pulled the trigger, he says in the 911 call.

"She had the gun," Sparks said. "I tried to take it away from her. I have no idea."

Sparks told dispatchers that his wife was shot in the chest and was bleeding a lot.

Dispatchers asked Sparks if his wife had threatened suicide before and he hesitates before he answers.

"She suffers from depression," he said. "She has depression really bad. She would never do this, though. She didn't do it on purpose. I tried to get it from her."

Dispatchers remained on the line with Sparks for around seven minutes. Dispatchers walked him through how to place a towel on the gunshot wound, how to check if his wife was breathing and how to perform CPR.

At the beginning of the call, Sparks said his wife was still breathing, but later he couldn't see her chest moving.

"Can you feel a pulse?" the dispatcher asked.

"I don't feel anything," the man said.

Minutes later, he's heard saying, "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Come on baby. Look at me baby."

The call ends just after police are heard arriving.

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