A 25-year-old man in Wisconsin may spend the remainder of his days behind bars for killing his 74-year-old grandmother, fatally shooting the elderly woman to stop her from calling the police after she found his gun.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Arthur Melvin III on Tuesday ordered Sean C. Couture to serve 26 years to life in a state correctional facility for the 2024 slaying of Nancy Lovejoy, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Couture reached a deal with prosecutors and agreed to plead guilty to one count of first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic abuse modifier. In exchange for the plea, additional charges of failing to comply with an officer and operating a firearm while intoxicated were dismissed. Melvin credited Couture with 388 days of time already served.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, officers with the Waukesha Police Department at about 8:32 p.m. on Aug. 25, 2024, responded to a call about shots being fired in the 200 block of Douglass Avenue, about 20 miles west of Milwaukee.

The 911 call came from Couture”s parents, who were out of the state on vacation and said they had received a call from their son, who said, “It’s over, it’s over” and stated that he had just shot his grandmother and was going to shoot himself as well.

When authorities arrived, Couture locked himself inside the home. Using a drone, police were able to see what appeared to be the body of an adult female lying motionless on the stairs leading to the basement. A rescue team waited for Couture to enter a bedroom before entering the home and removing the victim, later identified as Lovejoy. She was transported to a local hospital for treatment where she was pronounced dead from several gunshot wounds to the body.

With the help of a K-9 unit, police were able to enter the home and detain Couture, who registered a blood alcohol content of 0.45, more than five times the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle. In the home, police recovered a handgun and multiple magazines as well as a receipt showing Couture had purchased the firearm on June 4, 2024.

At the hospital, Couture agreed to speak with police, asking about his grandmother and repeatedly “referencing her being shot despite officers only telling him, to that point, that his grandmother had been injured and died.”

Couture then admitted to shooting his grandmother, police said.

“The Defendant ultimately admitted that he and his grandmother began arguing the night of August 25, 2024 after she discovered the firearm in his room,” the affidavit said. “The Defendant stated he believed his grandmother was going to call the police about the Defendant having a gun and he shot her as she was just outside the side door to the residence. The Defendant then admitted to dragging [the victim’s] body inside the residence onto the basement stairs where she was found because he didn’t want to leave her body outside.”

Couture also admitted to drinking alcohol before and after the shooting.