Dallas police arrested SMU rhetoric professor Annie-LaurieCooper Thursday morning on charges of aggravated assault with adeadly weapon after her fiance was shot in the leg during an earlymorning domestic dispute.

According to a report released by the Dallas Police Department,Cooper, 50, and her fiance, Steven Scott, 41, had been arguing forthree or four days over his drinking. During a argument Thursdaymorning, Scott left the house and went to the backyard. When hetried to reenter the house, Cooper had locked the back door andrefused to let him inside.

As Scott struggled to get back into the house, Cooper went intoa cabinet and retrieved a .32-caliber revolver. She threatenedScott, yelling, “I have the gun, you better not come inhere.”

After some time, Scott was able to get the door open. When hestepped inside the house, he was shot once in the left thigh. Scottcalled for the police and was taken to Baylor Hospital where he wasadmitted in stable condition.

Police report that at first Cooper said she knew nothing aboutthe incident. However, in a later statement to police at the scene,she stated, “I shot the gun, but I didn’t think that Ihit him.”

Cooper was arrested and booked into Lew Sterret Justice Centerwhere, as of press time, she had been arraigned and was being heldon $15,000 bond.

Scott presented a different story of the incident while speakingto Daily Campus reporters in his home Thursday afternoon.

“This was an accident,” he said. “She was ahandicapped woman alone in her house and she was just trying toprotect herself.”

Scott said that he tried to enter the house through the backdoor, but it was bolted. Cooper shot through the door into his legbefore she knew it was him. She would not have expected him to comethrough the back, he said.

“It was just a freak accident,” he said.”It’s not like this was a family argument, and she wastrying to blow me away.

“I’d hate to say anything that would jeopardize ourrelationship or her job at SMU,” he said.

Scott, a graduate of Hillcrest High School, and Cooper have beenengaged for one year and two months. He is optimistic that theywill be able to resume their relationship.

“There is not a firearm in this house,” he said.”They’re all gone.”

The couple lives in the Lakewood Heights area of Dallas —a neighborhood made up of small, older houses with a mix of manynew families and singles.

Neighbors described the couple’s relationship as volatile.One neighbor, who requested her name be withheld, described anincident in which one of them drove their car through the fencefacing their driveway.

Cooper’s colleagues in the English department at SMUcharacterize her as a dedicated teacher who was popular with herstudents.

“She has been a valued colleague of mine since I gothere,” said Jo Goyne, the director of SMU’s rhetoricprogram. “She’s one of the teachers that students likethe best.”

Former students described Cooper as frequently absent, butalways dedicated to teaching.

“She was a really strict teacher,” sophomorebusiness major Tom Legan said, “but she was always veryhelpful.”

Cooper joined the faculty in 1982 after receiving hermaster’s degree in English from SMU. She has taught rhetoricsince then and is now a tenured lecturer within the department.Cooper is also the director of the Altshuler Learning EnhancementCenter’s writing center and the editor of Criteria, a bookpublished yearly featuring examples of first-year studentwriting.

She received the M Award in 1996 and was named a HOPE Professorin 1991, 2001 and 2002. She was also nominated for a Devlin Awardfor outstanding teaching.

Carolyn E. Channell, a senior lecturer within the department,has been a friend of Cooper’s for the past 13 years.

“She was a charitable, caring and wonderful friend wholoved her students,” she said. “She would always go outof her way to make her students comfortable in class.”

Channell knew that Cooper kept firearms in her home.

“She has lived in neighborhoods in the past where she hashad to worry about her safety,” she said.

As of press time, no information was available regarding whetherCooper would resume teaching at SMU. Her classes will continue asscheduled, but it is not known who would be teaching her classes inthe interim.

Shelley Saltzman and Jenni Beauchamp contributed to thisreport.