Actor Michael Jace Charged In Fatal Shooting Of His Wife

Actor Michael Jace is best known for playing a cop on screen in TV shows like The Shield and Southland, is charged with fatally shooting his wife. INSIDE EDITION explains.

Michael Jace made his mark playing a cop with unbending moral integrity on TV’s The Shield, but suddenly, the actor finds himself on the other side of the law.

He's being charged in the fatal shooting of his wife at their house in Los Angeles. Police say he phoned 911 to say: "I shot my wife."

INSIDE EDITION’s Jim Moret was outside the home where Michael Jace lived with his wife and their two young sons. For more than a decade, the actor was a symbol of law and order for millions of fans in his roles as a police officer. In a bitter twist of fate, he's now in police custody.

See What Jace's Neighbors Had To Say About the Fatal Shooting

Playing cops was his bread and butter.  He's best known for The Shield. He also played a cop on the TV series Southland and in the Russell Crowe movie State of Play.

His 40-year-old wife, April, posted a photo on their 10th anniversary last June. Their young sons may have witnessed their mother's death.

Detective Sal LaBarbera of the Los Angeles Police Department said at a press conference, "Right now, it's unclear whether they saw the shooting. They at least heard the shooting. And now, to be left with no mother, and no father, it's a very sad situation."

Michael Jace and his wife had been arguing over money just before he shot her, according to law enforcement sources. He filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and his lawyer told INSIDE EDITION he was trying to save his home from foreclosure.

The Jace's neighbors are stunned. One told INSIDE EDITION, "Happy family. Always spending time with their children. April was a great mother. Michael was a fantastic father."

So now, the actor who portrayed upholders of the law in so many roles is being held on $1 million bail in a real-life role nobody could have imagined for Michael Jace—a murder defendant.