Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Estranged wife of suspected Wisconsin spa gunman among dead

By Brendan O'Brien

MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - The estranged wife of the suspected gunman in a shooting rampage at a Milwaukee-area spa was among the three women killed, officials said on Monday.

A policeman holds a traffic cone while guarding the Azana Salon and Spa in Brookfield, Wisconsin, October 21, 2012, where three people were killed and at least four injured in a shooting, Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus said at a news conference. REUTERS/John Gress

Those killed in the Sunday morning shooting included Zina Haughton, 42, of Brown Deer, Wisconsin, who worked at the spa and was suspect Radcliffe Haughton's wife, officials said.

Radcliffe Haughton, 45, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the Azana Salon and Spa in suburban Brookfield hours after the shooting.

The other women killed were Cary Robuck, 35, of Racine, Wisconsin, and Maelyn M. Lind, 38, of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, according to the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's office. Four people were wounded.

Haughton had been placed under a restraining order and directed to surrender his firearms to authorities this month in connection with a domestic abuse case involving his wife.

On October 8, the same date he was ordered to stay away from his wife after police said he slashed the tires on her car, Haughton posted to his Facebook page: "Need to get out of Wisconsin, HELP ..."

The next day, he issued a second plea: "Can anyone help me get out of Wisconsin?"

That was the last posting to his page, which lists his marital status as "divorced."

An earlier posting, from October 3, the day before he is alleged to have slashed his wife's tires, said simply: "Shooting birds ..."

"We believe this incident was domestic violence-related," Brookfield Police Chief Daniel Tushaus told a news conference on Sunday.

According to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Haughton purchased a .40 calibre handgun from a private citizen on Saturday, the day before the shooting.

Haughton had a previous police record for domestic violence. He was cited for misdemeanour disorderly conduct, described as domestic abuse, stemming from an incident on January 8, 2011. That charge was dismissed on June 15, 2011, records show.

A spokesman for Froedtert Hospital said three of the four people wounded were in satisfactory condition, while one remained in critical condition. All four are women aged between 22 and 40.

The shooting was the second incident of gun violence at a U.S. beauty spa in a matter of days. On Thursday, a gunman opened fire at a salon in suburban Orlando, Florida, killing three women and wounding a fourth, his wife, before fleeing and committing suicide at a nearby residence. The suspect in that shooting had likewise been ordered to keep away from his spouse.

The last few months have been marked by a string of mass shootings in the United States. On September 27, a disgruntled former employee killed six people and took his own life in a shooting rampage at a Minneapolis sign company from which he had been fired.

In August, a mass shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin claimed seven lives, including that of the gunman. In July, a gunman killed 12 people and wounded 58 in a shooting rampage at a Colorado movie theatre.

Nationally, there were 458 workplace homicides in 2011 and 518 in 2010, according to U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics data.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Keys and Mary Wisniewski; writing by Dan Burns; editing by Paul Thomasch and Todd Eastham)

News

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Estranged wife of suspected Wisconsin spa gunman among dead

By Brendan O'Brien