A Liverpool woman has been charged with murder after her live-in boyfriend was found dead of a gunshot wound.

Linda Lizette Lerma, 29, is being held in the Brazoria County jail on a $250,000 bond after police say she shot 32-year-old Joseph Daniel Malloy once during an argument Wednesday, according to a news release Thursday from Brazoria County Sheriff's Lt. Varon Snelgrove.


Deputies arrived at the house in the 1100 block of CR 192 after receiving a call just after 4 p.m. Wednesday that a woman shot her boyfriend, the news release states.

Investigators determined Lerma pulled out a handgun during an altercation and fired at Malloy, striking and fatally wounding him, according to the news release. Malloy was pronounced dead at the scene by Judge Jack Brown.

Malloy's body was taken to the Galveston County Medical Examiner's office for an autopsy.

If convicted, Lerma could face up to 99 years in prison for the first-degree felony charge.