High school senior Angelo Ray was charged with murder for shooting and killing his 17-year-old girlfriend in May, but he claims the shooting was accidental, and a judge granted his release as he awaits trial.

San Leandro high school senior Angelo Ray was just weeks from his graduation when he shot and killed his 17-year-old girlfriend Izabella “Bella” Raquedan-Retuta, seen below, on May 12 at her home, according to Bay Area News Group. The two were reportedly horsing around with a gun, a gun that Ray admits he bought on the street (and had been reported stolen), though Ray says he did not know the gun was loaded. Ray was charged with murder in early June.

But Ray’s story has been consistent, from his initial interviews with Alameda County law enforcement, and he’s been cooperative with authorities. Now Bay Area News Group reports that an Alameda County judge released Ray from custody with no bail, while he awaits trial. Not only that, the judge also ruled that Ray would stand trial for involuntary manslaughter, and not murder.

“I have struggled to find evidence of wantonness here and I’ve struggled to find evidence that the defendant, who deeply cared for Bella … that he deliberately acted with conscious disregard for her life,” Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Stevens said during Ray’s hearing. “I can’t imagine a more horrific moment in the lives of everyone involved,” he added.

Ray is now out of custody, though has been ordered to not possess weapons, and is required to wear a GPS device. But Alameda County prosecutors insist they are going to re-file the murder charge.

Ray “had a duty to minimize the dangers that he brought onto the victim as well as her family, a duty to check, to unload the gun, and he has a duty that he blatantly ignored,” Deputy District Attorney Josie Chan argued to the court at Ray’s preliminary hearing, per the news group. “And his failure to do so cost somebody their life.”

Ray faces his next court appearance in August, and meanwhile, his public defenders are trying to get the murder charge dismissed from the case.

Related: Ex-Boyfriend of 18-Year-Old Murdered In Morgan Hill Arrested at US-Mexico Border [SFist]

Image: Mercurywoodrose via Wikimedia Commons