WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Authorities say a man angered by a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend burst into her northeastern Pennsylvania apartment and shot three people, killing her next-door neighbor on her 25th birthday, and then killed himself while his intended target hid in a closet with the couple's daughter and another child.
Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said 39-year-old James Cooper of Scranton shot and killed Shana Bagley, a mother of three, and wounded two men before turning the gun on himself on Friday at the Hanover Village apartment complex in Hanover Township, just outside Wilkes-Barre.
Bagley was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, 26-year-old Bradley, and neighbor Thomas Harris were listed in fair condition at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center.
"This poor woman was a victim. She was at the house and caught in the middle," Musto Carroll said.
She said authorities believe Cooper intended to kill Shaundra Langille, who was hiding in a closet with her 9-month-old daughter and another child during the shooting.
"None of the children were injured, thank God," Musto Carroll said.
The two had been in Luzerne County Court a day earlier in connection with competing protection from abuse orders. The judge granted temporary custody of their child to Langille and issued a one-year order barring personal contact between the couple.
A cousin of the victim, James Burney of Wilkes-Barre, called Bagley "a sweet person" who had a run-in with Cooper prior to the shooting.
"She had a big heart," he said. "Her problem was she had too big of a heart."
Langille said she was thankful to be alive, but was saddened about her friend's death. She said they were supposed to celebrate that night.
"We were supposed to have a luau for her birthday," Langille said
A compilation of daily news articles from around the United States about deaths (including both people and animals) that appear to occur in the context of a past or present intimate relationship, focusing on 2009-present. (NOTE: this blog is limited to incidents that appear in the media and are captured by our search terms. We recognize this is not an exhaustive portrayal of all deaths resulting from intimate violence.) When is society going to realize intimate violence makes victims of us all?
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