VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Elizabeth Ashe, who’s accused of accidentally killing a woman she was in a relationship with, was denied bond in Virginia Beach Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Wednesday morning.

Ashe is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and discharging a firearm at an occupied building.

On Feb. 11, police were dispatched to a home on the 1000 block of Mineola Drive for an accidental shooting. When they arrived they found 24-year-old Ashe performing CPR on Ashley McCoy, 26.

Ashe told police McCoy had been laying with her head in her lap while Ashe was cleaning a firearm. The firearm accidentally discharged, hitting McCoy in the back of the head.

Ashe’s public defender, Brook Thibault, told the court that he’d been given the case just the day before and hadn’t had time to subpoena witnesses. Still, the court heard testimony from Ashe’s mother, Lolita Trini Ashe, who described her as a high-achiever with no record of violence.

Thibault was also prepared to call family members of McCoy’s to testify – in support of Ashe – though the judge declined to hear from them.

“The victim’s family views this as an accident, they care deeply about the suspect,” the prosecutor noted during the hearing.

Ashe’s mother told the court she’d been in the Honor Society in high school, had reached the rank of Eagle Scout and volunteered with the Humane Society. She’d worked for the city of Chesapeake (one of her previous bosses was in the courtroom) and recently begun working for the city of Virginia Beach.

She said Ashe was knowledgeable about guns and the two had made plans to take a conceal-carry class together.

“She would yell at me, the way I would handle mine, holding it,” she told the court.

Ashe had just purchased the gun nine months ago, she said.

In the hearing, Ashe answered questions asked by the judge but grew emotional as the hearing went on. She was seen shaking at times, and cried as the attorneys around her argued.

Still, the prosecutor pushed for her to remain in jail, saying they viewed her as “a danger to the community.”

“It is an implausible story from someone who, according to his mother, is very familiar with firearms, firearm safety,” she said of Ashe’s claim the shooting was an accident.

The judge denied Ashe’s bond pending further examination. A determination hearing was set for March 1.