"Estranged" dad shoots mother during child custody exchange; mom in critical condition (Grandview, Washington)

We reported on this case previously, but at that time dad was unidentified. Now he is identified as JOSE ANGEL LEPE-GARCIA.

Notice the idiocy of calling this a "children exchange gone bad." Kind of shifts the attention away from the actual flesh-and-blood perpetrator to something vague, like an "exchange." As the NRA might say, "exchanges" don't kill people. Killers kill people.

Of course, we don't say a word here on whether this custody exchange was court-ordered, and therefore who in authority might be responsible for setting up this crime. Unfortunately, the courts routinely set up moms and force them to interact with men with a history of violence during child custody exchanges. They knowingly and deliberately put these women in danger. It's just a way of saying that the Daddies Must Have their Rights No Matter What, while the right of mothers and children to a life without fear or violence means nothing.

http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/09/17/09-18-2012-briefs

Yakima Herald Republic

Estranged husband shoots wife, kills self

Grandview — A Sunnyside woman who was shot Sunday night by her estranged husband before he killed himself remains in critical condition in intensive care at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center following surgery.

Margarita Lepe, 36, was picking up her three children at the man’s house when the couple got into a fight and he shot her before killing himself, according to a news release from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.

"It was a children exchange gone bad," said sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Robert Udell. "After he shot his wife, he took the kids out to the garage. I’m not sure how many times she was shot, but it’s possibly more than once."

Jose Angel Lepe-Garcia, 36, was dead at the scene.

Both he and his estranged wife were found shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday in the same bedroom of the house where Lepe-Garcia lived, in the 300 block of Grandview Pavement Road, about two miles west of Grandview, Udell said.

They had been estranged about two months, he said.

Three children were at home at the time of the shooting.

The father told his brother to pick up the kids, Udell said. The brother called police.

Detectives cleared the scene around 2 a.m. Monday, he said.