Police say actor Michael Jace called emergency services and told the operator that he shot his wife in Los Angeles.
Detective Dean Vinluan said Tuesday that a printout of the incident history indicated that Jace made the statement to the operator.
Jace, who played a police officer on television, was arrested earlier in the day on suspicion of fatally shooting his wife.
Detectives were investigating whether the couple’s financial or other marital difficulties might have played a role in the killing.
The body of April Jace, 40, was found in a hallway of the home, and police recovered a handgun believed to belong to her husband.
Jace, who appeared on the hit FX series The Shield, was being held on $1m bail.
LAPD Detective Dean Vinluan says the couple’s children were at home when April Jace was killed. He says detectives are still trying to determine whether the children witnessed their parents fighting or the shooting.
Jace is best known for his role in the FX drama The Shield, as a Los Angeles police detective conflicted about his sexuality. The show ran on the Fox-owned network from 2002-08.
Jace had been in Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection since 2011, according to online court documents. April Jace indicated in those filings that she had been a public school teacher in Los Angeles for the past 10 years.
Messages left with Jace’s agent were not immediately returned.
Jace has also had several movie credits, including the Oscar-winning film Forrest Gump, and Boogie Nights.