Estranged husband with a history of domestic assault is charged with murder, kidnapping
By Kristin Buehner,For the News-Tribune
A former North Iowa woman was killed in Des Moines last Wednesday, the victim of domestic abuse, family members confirmed.
Des Moines police found a woman identified by family members as TereseAnn Marie Lynch, 30, a native of Duncan, inside an apartment Wednesday. She was found shortly after a shotgun-wielding man surrendered to end a standoff that lasted more than an hour and left one police officer injured.
The suspect was identified by police as her estranged husband, Randall Todd Moore, 38, Des Moines.
He has been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and attempted murder, police said.
Lynch had filed a petition for protective relief from domestic abuse against her estranged husband in Polk County on Oct. 13, according to Iowa Courts Online.
The couple had an 8-month-old son at a day care center at the time of the shootings, police reported.
Police Sgt. Lori Lavorato said the standoff began about 4:30 p.m. when officers received a report of a woman possibly being abducted. Their investigation led them to the Ashley Square apartment complex.
More than 30 police units and tactical teams surrounded the building where the man was holed up.
One police officer was shot in the hand and was taken to Iowa Methodist Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. The officer, who has not yet been identified, was in the apartment complex's parking lot when the gunman reportedly shot him from an apartment balcony.
Lavorato said only two shotgun blasts were heard: one that wounded the officer and the other that presumably killed the woman inside the apartment.
A hostage negotiator persuaded the gunman to put his weapon down and come out, Lavorato said. The gunman surrendered peacefully, she said.
“That was at the point our tactical unit decided that since we believed a female was possibly shot, it was imperative that we got in there as soon as we found that information out,” Lavorato added. “We wanted to get to her. It just so happened that when he put the weapon down, that's when our entry team met him at the door.”
Moore was taken into custody around 5:30 p.m.
Court records indicate that Moore was convicted of assault in 1999, 2002 and 2006, and received a 30-day suspended jail sentence and one year's probation for third-degree harassment in 2000. Court records also disclose that Moore has been accused of domestic abuse in civil lawsuits four times by four different women since 2005 and had a protective order issued against him that expired Oct. 26.
TereseAnn Lynch was a 1998 graduate of Garner-Hayfield High School and a 2001 graduate of North Iowa Area Community College.
She graduated from Iowa State University in 2004 with a bachelor of science degree in child, adult and family services.
She is the daughter of Tim Lynch of Duncan.
No comments:
Post a Comment