Former state trooper Mark Miscavish killed his wife, Traci Miscavish, Thursday inside a County Market grocery store in Pennsylvania. He then turned the gun on himself, committing suicide in an upstairs office of the supermarket.
Officials declined to say how many times the gun had been fired, reports USA Today.
Miscavish was a member of the state police for 15 years, and retired in 2011.
Investigators claim he arrived at the store around 10 a.m., and began looking for his wife immediately. Using a shotgun, Miscavish fired at Traci, then himself, only a few days after Traci had filed for divorce and nearly two months after they had a previous run-in.
Miscavish, reportedly has a history of violence and drug use. Traci suspected her husband was abusing prescription pills, and when she tried to take them away from him on Jan. 23, he pinned her to the ground and tried to restrain her by taping her up, claims Parks Miller, who was prosecuting him at the time.
He brandished a firearm and threatened to kill her, but a citizen caught a glimpse of him dragging her back into the house and stopped to assist.
Miscavish was charged with harassment, terroristic threats and simple assault. He spent a week in jail, then was bailed out.
Traci expressed almost hysterical fear to Parks Miller thereafter.
"She said, 'The next time I see him is going to be at the end of a gun,'" Miller told AP. "We were very concerned when he got out and we're just devastated now."
Traci's sister, Gina March, expressed her extreme sadness in an interview outside the supermarket.
"He wasn't in his right mind," she said. "I don't believe he's at fault, I believe he needed help...And nobody was there to help him, not the judge, not the cops, not our system."
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