Covington Police Department officers responded to a “trouble unknown” call at the Magnolia Heights Apartment complex at approximately 3 a.m. Sunday to find a hysterical woman covered in blood.

According to CPD Lt. Wendell Wagstaff, the officers called LifeFlight for the victim, 23-year-old Tiati Smith, who was bleeding from behind her left ear, even though it appeared the bullet had just grazed her ear or head.

Before Smith was taken for medical treatment, officers discerned she allegedly had been shot by her live-in boyfriend, Christopher Joe Parker.

Parker, 25, had fled the scene prior to the officers’ arrival. Officers began searching the woods in the area of the couple’s apartment. They found the alleged weapon involved in the incident – a .22 pistol – and eventually made contact with Parker in the Jefferson Village neighborhood.

Wagstaff said he believed the victim would make a full recovery.

Parker has been charged with aggravated assault under domestic violence and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.