Christina Hall

Detroit Free Press

Ebony Byrom was calm and said she just wanted her husband, Hal Byrom, to go.

“I just want him to leave before it escalates,” the 38-year-old told a Macomb County sheriff’s dispatcher moments before authorities say her husband shot her multiple times at their Macomb Township home while she was on the line with 911 early Saturday. Hal Byrom, 44, turned the gun on himself, but survived the single gunshot wound.

When she was killed, Ebony Byrom was answering questions about whether there was a weapon in the house or if her husband was armed, an edited tape of the 911 call released Monday shows.

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Sheriff Anthony Wickersham, whose office released the tape, said the prosecutor’s office authorized first-degree murder and felony firearms charges against the husband, who is hospitalized in serious condition. Hal Byrom is in the custody of sheriff’s deputies but has not been arraigned.

Ebony Byrom’s son, 16, was in his bedroom playing video games live with a friend online when he heard the gunfire, Wickersham said.

“As soon as he opened his door, he saw his mother and stepfather on the floor,” Wickersham said, adding “our hearts go out to him for being in there, something he had to witness.”

The teen is with his mother’s sister; his biological father lives out of state, Wickersham said. He said the teen’s relatives are planning to set up counseling for him. The dispatcher who took Ebony Byrom’s 911 call also has a couple of days off from work.

The teen and the friend with whom he was gaming — who was in Clinton Township — called 911 around the same time, about 1:10 a.m. That was about seven minutes after Ebony Byrom called. Deputies were at the house at the time of the teen’s call, Wickersham said.

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Ebony Byrom called 911 at 1:03 a.m. and was on the phone for just over three minutes before multiple shots were heard. Following the shots, the dispatcher says, "Hello?" several times. Wickersham said he believed Byrom called from a cell phone.

Hal Byrom is being treated at a hospital, but his exact location was not given for security reasons, Wickersham said. Investigators have not interviewed him.

They are trying to speak with family members and neighbors to “figure out why this occurred.” They also are continuing to listen to the 911 calls, including one possibly from a neighbor.

Wickersham said the couple had been married a little over a year and living in the home in the 16600 block of Country Ridge Lane about the same amount of time. He said there were no prior domestic incidents or calls to the home, and that Hal Byrom has no criminal history.

Wickersham said Byrom fired 11 shots from what authorities believe was a 40-caliber handgun recovered at the scene. He said authorities believe Byrom struck his wife multiple times then shot himself once under the neck.

Wickersham said the gun was registered to Byrom. He did not know if he had a concealed pistol license, but said one is not needed to have a gun in one's home.

Wickersham said authorities believe the couple had an argument over financial issues.

In the edited tape of Ebony Byrom's 911 call, she tells the dispatcher that the couple had a dispute and repeatedly says she wants her husband to leave. She says her husband can get his belongings another time.

"I just want him to leave," she says.

When the dispatcher asked her the names of her husband and herself, Ebony Byrom gave her first name and when asked her last name, initially said, "It's Byrom, for right now."

The dispatcher asked Ebony Byrom where her husband was and she responded: "Right here."

The dispatcher asked Byrom if her husband had any weapons on him.

"No, not right now. No," she responded, then told the dispatcher there is a gun in the bedroom.

"Do you know if it is locked up?" the dispatcher asked.

"No, it's not," Byrom said, in what turned out to be her last words.

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.