When a Mistake Becomes a Tragedy: The Shooting of Columbus State Professor Erica Anderson
A Georgia community is mourning the loss of Erica Anderson, a theatre professor at Columbus State University who was accidentally shot and killed by her roommate on October 13, 2025. According to police reports, the roommate mistook Anderson for an intruder after hearing noises late at night and fired two rounds—one of which struck and killed Anderson.
Local investigators and the coroner ruled the shooting accidental. Multiple outlets report the roommate had been under stress from recent threats, which may have contributed to a heightened fear response that night.
This mother of 3 is now dead
The Law and the “Reasonable Person” Standard
The law judges our actions based not on the factual reality of the threat, but on our reasonable perception of the threat. That’s a good doctrine—it recognizes that humans under stress can make mistakes and that perfect hindsight isn’t the standard of justice. But the key word is reasonable.
That doesn’t grant immunity for poor decisions. If a jury of your peers wouldn’t have made the same call under the same circumstances, legal consequences are still possible, even if you were genuinely afraid at the time.
These Incidents Happen Too Often
Sadly, tragedies like this occur more often than most people realize. We document multiple cases each year where a homeowner or gun owner misidentifies a loved one or roommate as a threat. We personally track roughly five such incidents per year here:
👉 How To Not Mistake Your Loved One As A Bad Guy And Then Shoot Them
What Likely Would Have Prevented This
In the resource above, I outline tactics and strategies to reduce this risk—lighting plans, communication habits, and family protocols for returning home late. The most valuable and universally applicable tool is verbal communication.
- Issue a verbal challenge/announcement. “Who’s there?” or “This is the homeowner—identify yourself!” can prevent tragic misidentification.
- Barricade instead of seeking out the noise. Establish a safe room, get behind cover, call out, and force the unknown party to identify themselves.
- Build a household plan. Set expectations for late arrivals (texts/calls), alarm disarming, and lighting cues so movement in the home isn’t a surprise.
In this case, a clear verbal warning and a proper barricade response likely would have changed the outcome.
A Call to Thoughtful Preparedness
Owning a gun for protection isn’t just about readiness—it’s about restraint. Have a plan for how you’ll respond when startled, half-asleep, or frightened. Practice verbal challenge protocols, lighting routines, and safe-room barricade procedures, and review them with everyone in your home.
Without more details, it is nearly impossible to truly say if this should have been ruled as an accidental shooting.
If she fired through the door without knowing who was on the other side, then I believe the shooting is her responsibility and he/she should/could have faced actual charges of manslaughter.
They absolutely should have developed a plan for either one of them coming in late at night .
If you don’t live alone you must try to identify who it is. That is basic common sense. There have been times when my wife was up and walking about the house and I thought she was in bed with me.
It makes 0 cents that our roommate shot her through the door.
Something fishy about it
No door involved. Shots were fired in an internal hallway I believe.
You must believe everything that you read, because it is all thoroughly vetted. There is no truth to the idea that crime and catastrophe are being hyped (or worse) to create a climate of fear in which we are all easily manipulated. I must admit, though, I thought it strange that this theatre professor, who is no doubt also an ACTOR, had three children. That passes for a large family these days. Oh well, time to watch another ASP video. You can trust John.
I can only report on the facts that are available. Can you always trust what you read? Of course not. Are you suggesting that I’m gullible or that I’m a liar? I’m not sure. Certainly I’m not a liar. I guess I wouldn’t know if I was gullible but I did read 5 different news stories about this incident before writing this article. Not sure what I said here would cause you to think I’m gullible.
It’s no different than the basic rule of hunting. You must see and identify what you are shooting at.
You should know what your target is. You don’t just shoot at anything that moves or makes noises. Especially when you have a roommate. The shooter Should be Charged and brought to trial!
With American media and political powers admonishing the use of firearms comes a public ignorant on even the basic functions or rules that apply to firearm use. Personally, I blame the those against guns creating a vigilant but ignorant following whom if ever do find themselves with a firearm will not even realize how ignorant they are because their only education on firearms was about how bad they were and not anything on functionality or proper practices and safety guidelines.
Good article. I would suggest that the author provide link(s) to credible news or public sources that provide more details of the incident to be discussed. These comments show that people are discussing this without actually knowing critical details.
Our alarm went off and I grabbed my bedside pistol and went to investigate. As I rounded the corner to our “Great Room”, a figure stepped out of the laundry room. It was my wife who I thought at the time was still in bed. I never brought the gun to bear, but this was a scary moment. I have revised my night-time alarm plans to first confirm that she is or is not in bed with me.
If you keep a gun for defense, you should always have a flashlight with it to help in threat identification.You should NEVER shoot at anyone you cannot identify as a threat. Having a firearm comes with great responsibility.
Not an accidental shooting, it was negligent homicde. If the gun had been defective and fired without the trigger being pulled, it could have been considered an accident. Her roomate was negligent in her use of a firearm. Her target was not identified with certainty and she fired her weapon. That;s negligence.
It’s not personal, Mr. Paulsen. You are no more gullible than the average American, probably less, but the news media is controlled by a small handful of companies, no matter how many mastheads you see. Even the so-called alt media is ultimately controlled by the same wealthy elite, albeit through fronts and shell companies. This means that with the careful promoting of sensational stories, either true or false, you can control what direction society takes, and you can profit greatly by knowing that direction beforehand. Don’t you wish you had invested heavily in security system companies in early 2001? How about pharmaceutical companies in 2018? Even something like knowing when a certain pistol would get a big military contract, and then knowing when it would have a highly publicized fail could earn you a lot of money, if you controlled the narrative.
Ok, so if I follow you have no specific reason to doubt what I’ve shared, you just generally don’t trust me or this website or at least don’t trust that we can research the facts and discern the truth. I guess I won’t take that personally.
Mundane crimes and ordinary tragedies are usually reported on accurately, given what I said about news all coming from a handful of wire services. The various stories used to all be worded the same, but I think they may be using AI to make that less obvious. It’s the sensational stories designed to polarize opinion and cause division that I am addressing. This Columbus, GA story is designed to amp up the gun control debate. If people start questioning the official version, then they are given some sexy alternate version to sink their teeth into. You are never allowed to ask the question “did this even happen at all”? I’m not criticizing your research zeal, I’m saying that you are being lied to. If you want further evidence, try this critique of a recent famous news story: [link removed per policy]