Police officer served attacker with PPO just hours before deadly incident

by Danielle Quisenberry | Jackson Citizen Patriot

Friday May 29, 2009, 7:48 AM

Handout photoTerrance "Terry" Wheeler

Less than four hours before police said Terrance "Terry" Wheeler stabbed to death his former girlfriend, a Jackson police officer told him to gather his things, leave her house and stay away from her.

Lt. Christopher Simpson said the officer served Wheeler after 4 p.m. Wednesday with a personal protection order requested by Dorothy Holliday, who wrote in the May 20 order that Wheeler had threatened to take her life.

About 7:30 p.m., Sgt. Michael Gleeson shot and killed Wheeler, 58, after Wheeler refused to drop a knife he was using to stab Holliday, 43, in the chest area inside her home at 815 Maltby St., police said.

Both Holliday and Wheeler, boyfriend and girlfriend for about 11 years, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Autopsies were to be performed Thursday afternoon.

Neighbors, family members and friends of Holliday described Wheeler as an angry, violent man with a temper and a big voice.

Police said Wheeler also stabbed his brother, Daniel Wheeler, in the abdomen after Daniel Wheeler came to Holliday's aid. The brother was taken to Allegiance Health, where he was listed Thursday in fair condition, a hospital spokesman said.

"I call him a mad man for turning on his family," said Kathryne O'Dell, a neighbor.

Diane Mohney, a long-time friend of Holliday's, said she received a call from Holliday about 6 p.m. Wednesday. Holliday told her Wheeler had been at her house that afternoon, threatening to kill her.

"She was worried; he said he was going to kill her and him both," Mohney said.

Holliday told Mohney she was getting her locks changed that evening. Because Wheeler had threatened her before and Holliday said her son and his girlfriend were at the home, Mohney was not immediately alarmed. Calls and texts she made to Holliday at 7 p.m. and again at 10:30 p.m. went unanswered and she began to worry.

Neighbor Jon Rowland said he was having a cigarette on his front porch Wednesday when he saw Daniel Wheeler stumble out of Holliday's house with blood coming from his side.

Daniel and Terrance Wheeler and Holliday had lived together in the house, which Holliday owned, Rowland said, but Holliday had recently kicked Terrance Wheeler out of the home.

Two officers, who police said were responding to a 911 call about a stabbing victim, soon arrived with guns drawn and entered the house, Rowland said as he stood looking toward the scene. Several cars were parked in Holliday's driveway, though the house was empty, and bird houses decorated the front lawn.

"I heard one cop yell, 'Please, sir, put down your weapon,' and shots were fired," Rowland said.

He said he heard at least eight shots. "It just sounded like it was one right after another."

Other neighbors said they heard as many as 10 shots.

Jackson County Undersheriff Tom Finco said "several shots" were fired as police officers are trained to do.

Detectives from the sheriff's office, Blackman Township and the state police on the Jackson County Major Crimes Task Force are investigating, but preliminarily it seems Gleeson's actions were justified, Finco said.

Gleeson, a 19-year veteran, was accompanied into the house by Officer Chad Dermyer, who has been a city officer for 1 1/2 years, according to a sheriff's office news release.

Earlier in the day, an officer was called to the Maltby Street home, where he took a report that Terrance Wheeler had assaulted a Horton man, who was born in 1963, Simpson said.

The man's name was not released.

When running Wheeler's name through the Michigan Law Enforcement Information Network, the officer noted a personal protection order, signed by Circuit Judge John McBain, had not been served.

There was not cause to arrest Wheeler — the Horton man's injuries were not serious — but the officer advised Wheeler to get out of the house, Simpson said.

He watched Wheeler gather his things and leave, Simpson said.

O'Dell, the neighbor, said she saw Terrance Wheeler, Holliday and a police officer outside the house.

Later, she and her husband, Kristin, saw Terrance Wheeler jump the 4-foot chain-link fence behind their house, armed with a crow bar.

Kristin O'Dell said Wheeler got bit by a dog, fell on his face and then got up and headed between the O'Dells' house and garage to enter Holliday's home, which is adjacent to the O'Dells', from its front.

His green van was still parked Thursday morning on Irving Street behind Holliday's home, Kathryne O'Dell said.

Police said initially they received a report of a woman being struck in the head with a crow bar.

"Terry was very abusive. I knew him for years. He was like stalking her forever," said Monya Nace, who had worked with Holliday at Faith Haven Senior Care Center for about 14 years. Holliday had worked there for more than 20 years.

Nace wrote a letter to accompany Holliday's personal protection order request.

In it, she said Wheeler called Holliday at work, demanding to know her whereabouts.

"It is my house, I pay all the bills. He calls me at work. My boss told him not to call again," Holliday wrote in the order.

Craig Schuler, administrator at the care center, said Holliday used the word "stalk" in communicating with other workers about Wheeler.

"The conversations staff members had with him on the phone were usually kind of aggressive," he said.

Holliday had recently met a new man, said her niece, Kathy Ely of Jackson, who came to Maltby Street on Thursday morning looking for information.

The man had made Holliday "bubbly," the happiest she'd been in years, Mohney said.

"Even people that didn't know her that well would say, 'Dang, Dorothy. You're so happy.' "

"I know (Wheeler) was angry and hurt by her," said Rowland, who has lived next door to the couple for about seven years.

Rowland said Wheeler often yelled and cursed and Rowland had to ask him not to swear in front of Rowland's children.

"Dorothy was a great gal, a great woman," he said. "Terry was drunk, violent."

Arthur Holliday, Dorothy Holliday's brother, said he was not close to his sister because of Wheeler, whom he called "the domineering kind."

"We've had issues with Terry for a lot of years," he said. "He was not one of those people you wanted to hang around."

Arthur Holliday said Terrance Wheeler did some roofing and was good with tools. He is a father to at least one son, neighbors said.

Dorothy Holliday has a son and a daughter. Her son, who lives across the street from his mother's house, did not comment extensively Thursday as he stood barefoot on Maltby Street.

"It just hurts," said Jason Hall, 24, as his eyes welled up with tears.

Initially, Hall said he got along with Terrance Wheeler, but then he started "mouthing off and everything."

His sister introduced the pair, he said, and called his mother heartfelt and helpful.

"She died needlessly," Kathryne O'Dell said.

Holliday was a "good, caring person," Nace said. "I am kind of shocked. I can't believe this happened to her."

— Staff writer Heidi Fenton contributed to this report.