Rosangela Spradling

A Sterling man shot to death Friday by his wife in their Blossom Drive home was described by a neighbor as a tyrant who threatened anyone who came near his lawn.

Steven Spradling, 52, a member of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department, had reportedly twice threatened the life of one neighbor in the last three years.

His wife, Rosangela Spradling, 42, was arraigned today on a first-degree murder charge. She is being held without bond at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 26, according to Heather Williamson, spokesperson for the Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney's Office.

Deputies were called to the home about 9 p.m. Friday after a neighbor reported hearing gunshots coming from the residence.

Lori Cole, a next door neighbor of the couple, said her initial thought when she first saw the cul-de-sac inundated with police cars was that Steven Spradling had "finally taken her out."

Cole said Steven Spradling was an alcoholic who called her vulgar names and "the dead woman" after he mistakenly thought her dog defecated in his yard.

Cole said she reported the incident to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office but deputies never charged him with making the threat.

"Knowing that he worked for MWAA and had a gun, I ran back inside and called the police," she said.

On another occasion, the neighbor said Steven Spradling yelled out that he thought she "should die in a [expletive deleted] hole of death."

According to Liz Mills, spokesperson for the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, deputies had responded to the couple's home "continuously since 2003 for issues of domestic assault and issues with neighbors."

In 2012 alone, deputies were called to the home at least three or four times, Mills said.

According to Cole, Rosangela Spradling had a temporary restraining order against her husband.

The wife, a native of Brazil, had to hide that the couple's two kids played with other children in the neighborhood from her husband, according to Cole.

The children, a boy and a girl both under the age of 10, are temporarily staying with family friends.

"I hate to admit it, but I feel relieved. Except for the media, I feel like I can go outside again," Cole said.