He left girlfriend with bullet in the head at Puyallup hospital. Now he’s been sentenced
A 25-year-old man who drove off after leaving his girlfriend outside Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup with a gunshot wound to the head was sentenced Friday for manslaughter.
Edward Donelan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the July 3, 2021, fatal shooting of Kayla Kulow, 21. Superior Court Judge Shelly Speir-Moss also ordered Donelan to participate in counseling services for drug and alcohol use as well as domestic violence.
He pleaded guilty last month to second-degree manslaughter and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.
Pierce County prosecutors originally charged Donelan with murder, alleging in charging papers that an argument over their relationship led to Donelan taking a pistol from Kulow, which went off when the woman pushed the gun out of her face. Court records state Donelan left his girlfriend at a hospital, then went to a friend’s trailer and told him about the shooting.
The Pierce County medical examiner later ruled Kulow’s manner of death undetermined, meaning either there wasn’t enough evidence to designate it an accident, homicide, suicide or a natural death or that two manners of death were equally likely.
Prosecutors amended the charges May 19 due to plea negotiations and after considering the facts in police reports, according to court filings.
Donelan was arrested about two months after Kulow died at Tacoma General Hospital, where she was transferred after she was left in Puyallup. Detectives interviewed him, his father and the man Donelan spoke with after leaving Kulow at the hospital, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. Donelan initially told detectives he found Kulow shot outside her residence and that an SUV drove off immediately after, but investigators didn’t find bullet casings or bloodstains in the area where Donelan said it happened.
The man Donelan spoke with after the shooting allegedly told Sheriff’s Department detectives that the defendant came to him pounding on his door with dried blood on his chin and neck. Donelan allegedly told him that after an argument inside the house where they lived, Kulow walked down the road with some of her belongings.
Donelan said he drove to her and convinced her to get in the car, where they continued to argue, according to the probable cause document. He told the witness he was holding Kulow by the collar with both hands, and he had a gun in one hand. Records state Donelan said Kulow pushed the gun out of her face and the firearm went off.
Domestic violence resources are available for people who are in crisis or those worried about someone else.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 or 800-787-3224
Teen Dating Violence Hotline: 866-331-9474
The StrongHearts Native Helpline: 844-762-8483
The National Domestic Violence Hotline Deaf Services: 855-812-1001 (videophone) or 800-787-3224 (TTY)
