Butler police have questioned the married boyfriend of a 49-year-old woman who was shot and critically wounded inside her Miller Avenue home Sunday morning, according to court documents.

However, investigators, refuse to say if the 45-year-old man is a suspect in the shooting of Shari Donnel, who remains at a Pittsburgh hospital with major injuries.

But police just hours after the shooting obtained a search warrant to examine the Oakland Township man and his clothing for any trace of gunshot residue.

During an interview with police, the man acknowledged he owns two shotguns.

Police said Donnel was struck in the stomach by a shotgun blast. Despite her injuries, she was able to call 911 about 4:45 a.m. Sunday.

Butler Fire Department and Butler Ambulance Service medical crews were the first to get to the home at 335 Miller Ave. They found Donnel in severe pain.

Authorities traced the pain to serious abdominal injuries but the woman told first-responders that she did not know how those injuries occurred.

Donnel was taken to Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh where X-rays revealed shotgun pellets in her chest and stomach area, authorities said. She went into surgery.

Police said she underwent a second operation on Monday. She was listed Tuesday in critical but stable condition.

Capt. David Dalcamo said because of her injuries, police have been unable to speak with Donnel as part of their attempted homicide investigation.

The Butler Eagle knows her boyfriend’s identity but is not naming him because police have refused to confirm he is a suspect.

He could not be reached for comment at his home this morning; however, a woman who answered the phone there said he has retained attorney Al Lindsay of Butler.

Lindsay was unavailable for comment.

On Sunday morning police discovered a bloody crime scene at Donnel’s three-story, wood house.

According to a search warrant for the house, officers described “a large amount of blood” on the living room and dining room floors on the ground floor, the stairway to the second floor and in the bathroom, hallway and bedroom on the middle floor.

No weapons were found. Also absent, Dalcamo said, was any sign that burglary or robbery was a motive for the crime.

On Donnel’s bed, officers found shotgun wadding and a shotgun pellet, documents revealed.

Police canvassed the neighborhood, going door to door at dawn in hopes of finding anyone with clues about what happened.

Donnel lives alone, Dalcamo said, but that doesn’t count cats, according to neighbors.

“There’s a lot of them over there,” said Daneen King, one of Donnel’s next-door neighbors “Indoor ones and outdoor ones.”

None of the neighbors reported hearing anything suspicious Saturday night into Sunday morning, Dalcamo said.

But that’s not to say it was peaceful either. Children and adults alike set off fireworks in backyards and alleys, neighbors reported.

Dalcamo would not disclose what police learned from neighbors. But officers were digging for information about Donnel that could help lead to a suspect.

“They asked if Shari had a boyfriend,” King said of police. They came knocking at her door about 6 a.m.

She and other neighbors could not say if Donnel had a boyfriend, but they acknowledged seeing a man leaving her house at times, usually late at night.

Police possibly found that mystery man, following a search of Donnel’s cell phone.

The phone showed Donnel had exchanged text messages Saturday evening with a female friend. Police contacted that friend, who disclosed that Donnel was dating a man who works at the Giant Eagle store at Moraine Pointe Plaza in Butler Township.

Neighbors said Donnel works at the Giant Eagle bakery at its Clearview Mall store in Center Township.

Giant Eagle store officials did not return telephone calls for this report.

Police on Sunday went to the Giant Eagle in Butler Township looking for the man believed to be Donnel’s boyfriend. The store manager told investigators that the man had showed up for work that morning at 5 o’clock.

Police suspicions were immediately raised in speaking with him, according to an application for one of several search warrants issued.

He was “breathing heavily,” officers noted. But something else seemed odd.

During their initial conversation with the man, the officers purposefully withheld details about their findings, telling him only that they were investigating “an incident” that happened at Donnel’s house.

“It was approximately 10 minutes before (he) asked me if Shari was OK,” Detective Sgt. John Johnson said in court papers.

The man agreed to accompany officers to the police station for an interview. He waived his Miranda rights and did not ask for an attorney.

He admitted to police that he and Donnel “were dating,” documents said. His wife, he added, was unaware of that relationship.

Butler County Court records showed that the man and his wife on Monday marked their 24th wedding anniversary.

Dalcamo would not say if police have interviewed the man since Sunday.

District Judge Wayne Seibel about noon Sunday signed a warrant allowing police to search the man’s car for “any and all firearms, bloody clothing, ammunition, cellular phones and any and all other evidence of criminal activity.”

Dalcamo declined to say what police found in the car. He also would not discuss the results of gunshot residue testing of Donnel’s boyfriend or his clothes.

He said police continue to process evidence and to interview family and friends who know Donnel and her boyfriend.

Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, the friend who traded texts with Donnel on Saturday, appeared at the police station and was interviewed.

Neighbors expressed shock as details emerged in the case. They said Donnel’s mother and a sister-in-law were at the house Monday.

“They were here to clean up, I guess,” said one neighbor.

King and other neighbors describe Donnel as quiet and reserved. They know her as a fan of the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins.

“She’s very private,” King said. “She doesn’t have a lot of visitors.”

Real estate records showed that Donnel bought the house from her parents in 2010. Her parents bought the house in 1967.

Donnel’s blue Toyota RAV4 was still parked outside the home Tuesday. Police on Sunday got a search warrant to comb the vehicle for evidence.