A 33-year-old former sheriff’s deputy in Florida is facing decades behind bars for killing his girlfriend, accidentally shooting her in the head while teaching her how to clean and handle the weapons.

A jury in Marion County on Wednesday found Leslie Dale Boileau Jr. guilty on one count of manslaughter with a firearm in last year’s slaying of 25-year-old Polina Wright, court records show.

Boileau had been a patrol deputy with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office

According to an arrest affidavit, officers with the Ocala Police Department on Sept. 19, 2024, responded to a call from Boileau who reported he had just “shot his girlfriend,” describing the incident as an “accidental discharge.”

Upon arriving at the scene, first responders made contact with Boileau and located Wright, who was “sitting” in a chair and “obviously deceased” after suffering a gunshot wound to the forehead. Multiple firearms and cleaning supplies were visible on the table in front of Wright and throughout the room, including the rifle that Boileau said he accidentally fired.

An officer at the scene questioned Boileau, who responded, “I was cleaning the guns,” adding, “we were pointing them at each other.”

“She was like, ‘I want you to teach me how to use them, I want you to teach me how to use them,'” Boileau told the officer, describing the moments before the incident. “Ok we will, we will, we will. We were pointing them at each other, and the gun went off.”

Boileau confirmed that he was holding the “AR” rifle at the time before making several incriminating statements such as “I know this looks really bad,” “I told her I did not want this to happen,” and “I did not want to train her in the f—ing house like this.”

In a more formal post-Miranda interview, Boileau said he and Wright had spent the day together before going to dinner at a Mexican restaurant where they each had about three margaritas. When they arrived back at his home around 8 p.m., Boileau saw that the firearm cleaning supplies he had ordered online had been delivered. This “prompted Wright to inquire about firearms” and Boileau obliged.

“Boileau stated during the cleaning/firearm training scenarios he was providing to Wright, they were pointing firearms in the direction of one another which Boileau knew was wrong, based on his profession as law enforcement officer,” the affidavit says. “During the cleaning/training scenarios, Boileau stated he pointed the rifle in Wright’s direction, pulled the trigger one time which ultimately fired a round towards Wright, which ultimately struck Wright in the forehead, in between her eyes. After realizing Wright had been shot, Boileau held her until law enforcement/EMS arrived at the scene.”

Specifically, Boileau said he let Wright handle an empty rifle, which he then reloaded because he planned to put it away. However, he then noticed that Wright was handling a fully-loaded handgun, so he put the rifle down to grab the handgun and clear it of any live ammo and allowed Wright to “dry fire” the weapon.

Boileau said he then turned his attention back to the rifle.

“Boileau stated he grabbed the rifle and dry fired it one time,” the affidavit says. “On the second dry fire attempt, Boileau had forgotten that he placed the loaded magazine into the rifle which shot one live round in the direction of Wright, ultimately killing her. Boileau claimed he did not chamber a live round from the rifle magazine.”

As the interview came to a close, Boileau described his behavior as “sloppy.”

A date for Boileau’s sentencing hearing will be set after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report, which must be submitted within 30 days. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 30 years in prison.