In yet another domestic violence case, a Bremerton man was charged with several offenses after shooting his wife in the leg during an argument in their home.

Melvin Antonio Xavier, 36, has been charged in Kitsap County Superior Court with first-degree assault and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in the first degree — he had been previously convicted of a serious offense — as well as felony harrassment for threatening to kill his wife.

Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies responded at about 3 p.m. last Sunday to a home on Watson Place in East Bremerton as CENCOM had advised the deputies en route that the husband had shot his wife and both were outside, and that the husband was armed.

As deputies approached, they found a woman on the ground on the lawn and a man, identified as Melvin Antonio Xavier, 36, holding a baby, according to court documents. He was later booked into Kitsap County Jail on $1 million bail.

Deputies were able to secure the baby and then apprehend Xavier after he initially refused to let go of the child because he thought officers would shoot him if he did. Two other children were found alive inside the home.

A deputy found a trail of blood which led him from the victim to a large pool of blood at the rear of the home, where he found a black handgun. Several other firearms were also found inside the residence.

While speaking to investigators, Xaiver claimed the shooting was an accident and that both he and his wife were armed during the argument. The victim said that Xavier came into the master bedroom asking about two men they had seen at a grocery store. According to court documents, he then began slapping her and put her in a headlock. She reported Xavier then threatened to kill her and she grabbed a shotgun from on top of a China hutch. Xavier then emerged from the bedroom with a handgun and approached her in the dining room. The next thing she knew, her leg had gone numb.