Man arrested, charged with murder in girlfriend’s Daly City shooting death

DALY CITY — Prosecutors in San Mateo County say they’ve charged a Daly City man with murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend just hours after police had responded to a report that he’d threatened her with a gun.

Officers arrived around 1 a.m. Sept. 2 at the Daly City home shared by Aubrey Avery Jr., 42, his girlfriend, 49-year-old Grace Goodman and Goodman’s brother and mother, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office. Responding officers indicated that none of the people they spoke to were being cooperative and that both Avery and Goodman denied that there was a gun at the scene.

Less than seven hours later, at 7:30 a.m., the same group of officers returned to the home due to reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they found Grace Goodman in the garage with multiple gunshot wounds. Prosecutors did not say whether the victim was pronounced dead at the scene or in a hospital.

Goodman’s mother told investigators that she heard a gunshot before witnessing Avery leave the garage, fleeing the scene. Police found Avery about half a mile away from the home and arrested him following a brief foot pursuit.

The suspected murder weapon was found in a nearby trash can, prosecutors said.

Avery was formally charged with murder on Sept. 5 and is currently being held in custody on no-bail status.