Inside the Atlanta bedroom where British scientist was shot dead

EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Atlanta bedroom where British scientist, 31, was shot dead after stray bullet traveled 200ft piercing the dry wall, headboard, and his head – as grieving girlfriend returns for the final time to collect his belongings

  • Dr. Matthew Willson, 31, an astrophysicist from Surrey, England, was shot dead by a stray bullet in Atlanta, Georgia on January 16 
  • The British scientist had arrived in the US the previous day to stay with his partner Katherine Shepard, 26, at her unit at the Park on Clairmont Apartments in Brookhaven 
  • DailyMail.com visited the room that should have been Willson’s haven for the next three months but turned into the crime scene instead 
  • Willson was hit in the head by a round fired amid a ‘rapid’ and ‘reckless’ volley believed to have come from another apartment complex less than 200ft away
  • The bullet pierced the apartment’s exterior wall, exploded through the dry wall, and  into the back of the headboard of the couple’s bed  
  • Neither Shepard nor her roommate Aman Kar, who had just moved in six months ago, feel comfortable staying the apartment and are now planning to move back home 
  • No arrests have been made yet but police are continuing to treat the death as a homicide, officers added 

Seen for the first time, this is the catastrophic trajectory of the stray bullet that struck and killed British scientist Dr. Matthew Willson as he lay in bed with girlfriend Katherine Shepard in her Atlanta apartment.

The 31-year-old astrophysicist had been in the US barely two days when, on Sunday January 16, he was hit in the head by a round fired amid a ‘rapid’ and ‘reckless’ volley believed to have come from an apartment complex less than 200 feet away.

Now, with these exclusive pictures, DailyMail.com goes inside the room that should have been Willson’s haven for the next three months, but instead turned into the crime scene that housed his deathbed.

And we provide the first accurate account of the death that was as senseless as it is shocking.

In the end it was a matter of seconds and inches. The bullet’s deadly line is visible in all its gut-wrenching clarity and with it the awful events as they unfolded. 

Matthew Willson, 31, an astrophysicist from Surrey, England, had just arrived in Atlanta to stay with girlfriend Katherine Shepard (right) when he was shot in the head by a stray bullet on January 16

The couple were in bed in Shepard’s apartment unit on Clairmont Rd in Brookhaven when they were awoken at 2am by gunfire

Willson was hit in the head by a round fired amid a ‘rapid’ and ‘reckless’ volley believed to have come from an apartment complex less than 200 feet away

The hole where the bullet pierced the apartment’s exterior wall looks almost innocuous.

From there, it exploded through the dry wall, leaving scorch marks and blowing plaster dust into the back of the next thing it hit – the headboard of the bed that stood directly in front of that wall and the window.

As the bullet exited the headboard, leaving no more than a tuft of disturbed fabric, Willson pulled himself up from where he lay and turned towards his girlfriend who looked out the window. And in that instant, he was hit.

Today a cushion bearing the word, ‘Laugh,’ and a plush blanket cover the stains where Willson’s blood seeped into the now bare mattress. 

Shepard’s roommate Aman Kar, 25, placed them there to diminish the horror of the scene.

Shepard had not returned to the room since her boyfriend of three years met his violent death last week.

But she agreed to take DailyMail.com inside in a bid to highlight the random and avoidable nature of the crime that Atlanta’s Brookhaven Police Department are investigating as homicide.

And she shared new details of the night itself; the confusion that saw her initially believe that she had been shot and the awful realization that while she was unharmed Willson had suffered a devastating wound. 

Shepard had not returned to the room since her boyfriend of three years met his violent death last week. She is pictured holding his clothes inside their bedroom 

DailyMail.com visited the bedroom that should have been Willson’s haven for the next three months but turned into the crime scene instead

Photos show evidence markers where the bullet pierced through the exterior wall and into the dry wall of the couple’s bedroom 


The bullet left scorch marks and blew plaster dust into the back of the next thing it hit – the headboard of the bed that stood directly in front of that wall and the window

The couple were in bed when they were awoken at 2am by shooting. Shepard, 26, described how she cradled Willson in her arms as he died. 

According to Shepard and Kar, there were at least 30 shots fired that night. Both said they seemed to be coming from one of the apartment complexes on Burford Highway just beyond a wooded area that lies directly behind their own. 

Contrary to early reports that put the distance the bullet traveled as up to 800ft, this would mean the shot was fired less than 200 feet away. That is in line with what police have now publicly stated.

Indeed, the straight line of the bullet’s path seems to point to a squalid patch of waste-ground next to dumpsters, covered with gang graffiti.

Police have been quick to characterize this shooting as an aberration in an area where, according to a Brookhaven PD spokesman, they don’t ‘typically deal with a whole lot of gun crime’ or have ‘much gang activity.’

But according to both Shepard and Kar the sound of gunfire at night was not uncommon.

In fact, in the past, she said she had called Willson, who lived and worked in Belgium, to tell him about the gunfire as it happened.

But, she said: ‘It’s never come over here or lasted longer than a few minutes. This was so different. 

The hole where the bullet pierced the apartment’s exterior wall looks almost innocuous

Willson was unresponsive from the moment he was struck, though he lived on until Tuesday. Both Shepard and Kar said  the sound of gunfire at night was not uncommon

An evidence marker, measuring tape alongside the bullet entry hole from inside Katherine Shepard’s interior master bedroom into her bed’s headboard

‘First it was just a few shots and then it picked up speed and they emptied out their clip and then there was a pause and they started up again.’

According to Kar there were two different guns with two distinct pitches.

Shepard said: ‘I asked Matt, “Is it okay if I call the cops?” and he was like, “Yeah. It just sounds like they’re messing around.” 

‘So, there was this pause then a second gun started up and at that point I got up and was looking out of the window and I felt, or heard, a small explosion below me. 

‘I felt something hit my leg and I cursed and screamed and said, “What was that?” And I looked over at Matt because I heard his breathing change. 

‘And I saw him starting to slump over on the bed and so I got up and turned on the lights and there was blood everywhere and he was shot.’

Choking back emotion Shepard said: ‘I wish I could say that it had just grazed his head and there was a lot of blood because there’s a lot of blood from head injuries no matter how serious they are.

‘But I couldn’t see where the wound was, all I could see was a lot of blood everywhere and I could see there was maybe something on his forehead. I honestly had no idea where the bullet was [at that point] or what had happened.’

The bullet shredded when it struck Willson and lodged in his head – police hope it may hold some clue as to the gun that fired it.

By this time Kar was in the room and both he and Shepard had called 911. 

Willson was unresponsive from the moment he was struck, though he lived on until Tuesday.

Shepard and her roommate Aman Kar, 25, (right) had moved into this complex just six months ago because, ‘it seemed like a safe neighborhood’

Devoted: This is the last picture taken of Matthew Willson with his girlfriend Katherine Shepard after he flew to America to see her


Dr. Willson completed his doctorate at Georgia State University which is where he met Shepard. The couple had not seen each other for six months and were looking forward to three months together after their long separation

The police, Shepard recalled, were on the scene within ten minutes. They had received multiple complaints about the nearby gunfire.

But the horror wasn’t over.   

‘When the cops were in [here] there was another round,’ Shepard said. ‘There was more gunfire and the cops screamed, “Gunfire!” and like threw themselves against the wall to protect themselves.’

Kar remembered one officer pulling Shepard down and away from the window. The other officer present dragged him from the room and into the center of the apartment.

It would be roughly 20 agonizing minutes before the ambulance arrived and neither Shepard nor Kar know if it was being held back until officers were certain that the scene was secure.

The only access to the apartment is via an exposed stairwell that could just as easily have seen a paramedic hit by a stray bullet while the gunshots were still blazing through the trees.

For Shepard it was the most shocking end to a day that had, until then, been marked only by its normalcy.

Willson had arrived the previous day. The couple had not seen each other for six months and were looking forward to three months together after their long separation.

Pictured above is a row of apartments at the Villas De Las Colinas 3 Apartments on Buford Hwy, a possible source of the stray bullet fired into Katherine Shepard’s apartment

Nearby there is a squalid patch of waste-ground next to dumpsters, covered with gang graffiti at the Villas De Las Colinas 3 Apartments on Buford Hwy, another possible source of the stray bullet

She and Willson had awoken around 10am. They had walked to the nearby Kroger supermarket to pick up some food for a pasta supper later. 

Willson was suffering caffeine withdrawal as he and Shepard had both decided to strip it from their diet so they thought some fresh air would do them good.

They had a nap that afternoon and she cooked, setting off the small apartment’s fire alarm with all the steam from the pasta in the process.

Willson, a keen Liverpool FC fan, had planned to watch a game with Kar the next day.

He never did get to do that, or to fully unpack his belongings; the books he had been given for Christmas and was looking forward to reading, the two-family size packs of British brand Walkers, Cheese & Onion chips, that he had brought to give to a fellow Brit and former Georgia State University colleague.

Willson completed his doctorate at Georgia State University which is where he met Shepard.

Today, instead of planning how she and Willson will spend the next three months together, Shepard is facing a future without him.

His sister, Kate Easingwood, 28, flew from her home in Sweden to be by her brother’s hospital bed last week. Now she and Shepard are supporting each other in their grief.

Willson was an organ donor and, for Shepard, there is some small comfort in knowing that those wishes of the man whom she recalls as ‘smart and wonderful,’ were honored in his death.

Shepard and Kar had moved into the Park on Clairmont complex just six months ago because, ‘it seemed like a safe neighborhood, they told DailyMail.com 

Nearby are the Villas De Las Colinas 3 Apartments on Buford Hwy towards the Park on Clairmont Apartments

He will be cremated in the States and Shepard will take him home to his family in Chertsey, Surrey.

Neither Shepard nor roommate Kar feel able to stay in the apartment that was the scene of such horror.

Kar recalled how he cleaned up the bloodied bedding after police were finished with the scene. He loaded it all into trash bags doing his best, for Shepard’s sake, to erase the evidence of what had happened.

But, traumatized as both are, there is no forgetting what happened here and, perhaps worse, no comprehending it.

Shepard and Kar had moved into this complex just six months ago because, ‘it seemed like a safe neighborhood, -or as safe as they could afford on their grad student budgets. Two-bedroom apartments here like theirs cost between $1,390 and $2,045 a month.

Now Shepard, originally from California, plans to return home to her family. She will take a break in her studies and carry them on remotely when she feels able.

Kar too is taking a break and plans to return to his family in India for a while.

Police have appealed to members of the public who may have seen or heard anything that could help them identify Willson’s shooter.

None of this, Shepard said, ‘feels real.’ She said: ‘Because we were long distance for so long it just feels like he’s back home.

‘It doesn’t feel like he’s really gone. It feels like he just hasn’t got here yet and I’ll send him a message later today and be like, ‘Hey. I miss you.’ 

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