Miramar man fatally shot his husband, cops say

A Miramar man told police his suicidal husband shot and killed himself — but the body of Bernard Cornelius Gay told a different story, according to detectives and the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office.

When Miramar police arrived on April 23 at the apartment shared by Gay, 31, and Billy Lee Wilkerson, 40, they found Gay on the front porch, bloody and still breathing while bent over a pool of blood.

Officers performed CPR but Gay died at the home in the 7500 block of Venetian Street.

One of his fingers was in the handgun’s trigger guard, which was suspicious for a self-inflicted wound, the medical examiner’s office found.

Wilkerson was arrested Oct. 5 and prosecutors charged him with murder in the second degree, without premeditation. He was ordered held without bond in a Broward County jail.

The incident began when the couple returned home from a party and began fighting. Gay threatened to use his oxygen tank and matches to blow up the apartment and kill them both, Wilkerson told police. Then Gay grabbed a gun and threatened to kill Wilkerson, he told detectives.

The men, who had been together since 2000 and had a violent history, struggled to gain control over the weapon. Wilkerson said he went to a neighbor’s apartment and later heard a single gunshot.

It was one of several scenarios Wilkerson would share with detectives about what happened before Gay died, the arrest report said.

Gay was on his knees and Wilkerson was standing over him when Gay was fatally shot, investigators alleged.

Wilkerson ultimately said Gay’s death was accidental and that he didn’t realize the gun’s safety was off before it fired, police said. Wilkerson also told detectives he shot Gay in self-defense, was in fear for his life and had placed the gun next to Gay.