A 45-year-old Shelby County man has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting death of his wife at a residence near Alabaster last Wednesday.

Shelby County Sheriff Chris Curry said Jeffrey Wayne Hicks, who was taken into custody at the residence last Wednesday without incident, was charged with the slaying on Thursday and is being held in the Shelby County Jail on $750,000 bond.

The Sheriff’s Office also reports that a handgun, thought to have been used in the incident, was recovered.

According to sheriff’s officials, at 10:30 p.m. last Wednesday, deputies, assisted by Alabaster police, responded to a report of a shooting with injuries in the 100 block of Southwood Drive, just outside the city limits.

Curry said the call was made to the Emergency 911 system, and he said he believes it was the husband who made the call.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, inside the residence, Karen Cosby Hicks, 52, was found with a small caliber gunshot wound to the head.

She was checked by medical personnel and declared dead at the scene