TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) — A Birmingham man is on trial after being accused of killing his former girlfriend at her home in 2020.

Prosecutors say 57-year-old Carl Boyd shot and killed 49-year-old Carla Mack in her bedroom. Boyd’s lawyer Joel Sogol claims the couple argued over money, and then struggled for the gun Boyd was carrying. It went off, killing Mack.

“Mr. Boyd got a message from Miss Mack asking him to come to the house, she was not working, she had been put on leave, and she needed money, and she asked him to come over and demanded money and he wouldn’t give it to her and they wound up getting into it,” Sogol said.

Mack’s son and daughter, along with her best friend, testified on the witness stand, telling prosecutors that the couple never fought or had physical confrontations.

Captain Marty Sellers from the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit said that Boyd on the afternoon of the shooting came to the house and tried to open a few doors, but they were locked. He then rang the doorbell and a family member let him inside. Boyd then walked directly to the victim’s bedroom and moments later the fatal shots were fired.

“It was January 1, 2020, around 5 p.m., the Lakeview Police Department responded to a shooting in the 2100 block of Tammie Drive and when they arrived, they found a female, Carla Mack, had been shot multiple times,” Sellers said.

Sogol says it is a tragic situation for both families.

“He got into a dispute with a woman. There are issues about what happened and that’s going to have to be decided by the jury, but obviously, he is presumed innocent at this point, and we will do what we can to prove to the jury that’s he not guilty,” he said.

All three of the victim’s children were at home when the fatal shooting happened, but they were not injured. Prosecutors think the trial could be finished on Thursday.