Paige Ann Ireland, 41, was arrested on a charge of felony aggravated battery Sunday after she admitted to shooting Samuel “Buford” Ireland, 34, during a domestic dispute, police said.

Ireland told authorities that she was using the weapon as a tactic so she could leave the house.

Buford Ireland, 34, went through surgery at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, investigators said.

Paige Ireland told investigators that she and her husband were arguing Sunday afternoon and that she decided to leave the house. She said she was packing some of her belongings, but her husband kept yelling at her, so she grabbed her hunting rifle.

“She admitted that it was a mistake and a bad idea, but wanted his yelling to stop so she could leave,” Canyon County Detective Don Davenport wrote in a probable cause affidavit. “She thought only to scare him into leaving her alone.”

Paige Ireland told investigators that she believed there were no live rounds in the rifle. Buford yelled at her to shoot him, so she pointed the gun at him and squeezed the trigger, hoping to scare him with the “trigger click sound,” according to the court record.

Instead, the rifle fired and a .308-caliber round hit the man in the lower right ribs.

According to the affidavit, Paige Ireland tried to help her husband, called 911 and cooperated with investigators.

The couple reportedly have three children, none of whom were home at the time. Paige Ireland remained in the Canyon County jail Monday.

Kristin Rodine: 377-6447