(AP) -- Authorities say a South Carolina woman killed her estranged husband and fled to North Carolina, where she tried to commit suicide.

Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said Thursday that 37-year-old Shellie Lavette Davis will be charged with murder as soon as she is released from a Charlotte, N.C., hospital.

Authorities say Davis shot her 37-year-old estranged husband Jermaine once in the back of the head Wednesday morning in his West Columbia apartment. Investigators say the couple had an argument earlier.

Deputies say the woman then drove to Charlotte, where she shot herself once in the head outside a friend's home.

Metts says the couple's five school-age children are being cared for by relatives.

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