Dad murders mom in front of 4 kids; mom had temporary order of protection but sheriff "couldn't find him" (St. Louis, Missouri)

Dad RODNEY MORRIS-EL SR. shot his wife and killed his wife, the mother of their four children as she was loading the kids into her minivan to take to school. She had obtained a temporary order of protection, but it wasn't served because the "sheriff's deputies couldn't find him." (Really? How hard did they look?) Then the order was terminated when the mom "failed" to attend a hearing (and did anybody bother to find out why before it was terminated? Seems not.) The screaming 10-year-old had to run to a neighbor's apartment for help. The neighbor came out, and then Daddy dearest pointed the gun at him, but apparently decided at that point to take himself out instead. The news report says the children were "unharmed." Well, maybe physically? How do you think these kids are going to do psychologically, given what they witnessed and that they are now deprived of their mother?

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20090920/NEWS01/909200333/Mother+of+four+dies+in+suspected+murder-suicide


Mother of four dies in suspected murder-suicide
Woman had sought protection against attacker, police say.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch • September 20, 2009

St. Louis -- A woman seeking court protection against the father of her four children was fatally shot in front of the youngsters in what police called a murder-suicide.

Melissa Amerson, 26, was loading the children into her minivan just after 8 a.m. Friday when she was shot.

Police said her attacker, Rodney Morris-El Sr., 37, then walked about 30 feet into the yard and turned the weapon on himself.

Officials said the children, who range in age from 10 to 5, weren't harmed.

Neighbor Aaron Foster said he heard children screaming and the oldest child ran to his apartment and said, "Please help me. My mom has just been shot."

Foster said he rushed outside and found Amerson slumped over in the van. He said it looked as though she had been putting the twin 5-year-olds in their booster seats to take them to school when she was shot.

"I took the kids out of the back seat," he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "They were screaming and yelling. My uncle Steve came outside then and I told him to take the kids and get them into the house. As I looked over to my right, I see the assailant take the gun and point it at me. He pulled it back then shot himself in the head."

St. Louis Circuit Court records show that Melissa Amerson obtained a temporary order of protection Aug. 29 to keep Morris-El from coming near her, but it had not been served because sheriff's deputies could not find him. The order was terminated after she failed to attend a hearing Thursday.

Amerson said in court documents that Morris-El had coerced, stalked and harassed her.

"He has a weapon; has threatened to kill me," she wrote in the court documents.

The victim's father, Ty Amerson, said he was home in Kirkwood when his 10-year-old granddaughter called to say that Morris-El had killed her mom.