Sunday, July 10, 2011

Lake George, NY: Cops: Lake George killings are murder-suicide

Lake George man guns down ex-wife, uses shotgun on himself, authorities determine
by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST Staff writer
Updated 09:55 p.m., Saturday, July 9, 2011


LAKE GEORGE -- A recently divorced Lake George man fatally shot his ex-wife in front of their Elizabeth Street home before turning the shotgun on himself early Saturday, authorities said.
Sheriff Nathan "Bud" York said deputies were called to 3 Elizabeth St. -- a neat gray home with a white picket fence just outside the village and not far from the Northway -- after neighbors reported hearing a series of shots ring out around 7:30 a.m.
When they arrived, they found Kathleen M. Brados, 47, shot once in front of the home, not far from the body of her ex-husband, Douglas D. Cunningham, 52.
Brados was taken by ambulance to Glens Falls Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
York said the couple had been divorced about a month and may have still been sharing the home on a quarter-acre lot at the corner of Pine Grove Avenue.
Cunningham owned the home, according to town assessment records, but York said investigators were still trying to figure out who was living there.
Authorities said the couple appear to have lived there dating at least as far back as 2003, when deputies were summoned for a minor dispute -- the only such contact York said his department had with the couple.
York said that there was an active order of protection against Cunningham in connection with Brados' minor daughter, who he said he believed was 12 or 13 years old.
York said the girl was not in the home at the time of the incident and that he did not believe she lived there.
"She was a wonderful, happy person and a beautiful mother," said Brados' sister, Maureen Healy. "She was a great human being, and she didn't deserve the tortured life she had living with a monster."
York said investigators believe Cunningham fired three shots -- the one that felled Brados, one that may have been off target and the third that took his life.
But while the blasts reverberated through the quiet neighborhood overlooking a jam-packed vacation town, York said what led up to the slaying remained unclear Saturday afternoon.
Neighbor Jon Lee, who said he raced to the scene after hearing the shots, said Cunningham -- whom he called "Doug" -- had always been pleasant and was often seen at St. James Episcopal Church on Ottawa Street, two blocks off the village's main drag.
"He was always there," said Lee, who described Cunningham as a handyman and said he believed he had repaired some pews for the church.
Lee said he arrived on the scene soon enough to see Brados lying at the foot of the driveway, an image he struggled to shake hours later. He said the shotgun was not far away from her body but he could not see Cunningham.
York said Cunningham is believed to have shot her from about 20 feet away.
Other than minor traffic offenses, York said his department had arrested Cunningham just once, in May 2004 for driving while intoxicated. The outcome of that case was not immediately clear Saturday.
"Anytime you have something like this," York said, "it's very tragic."
A Post-Star reporter covering the incident was arrested after police said he failed to move when ordered.
David Taube, 24, was charged with second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, according to a release from the Warren County Sheriff's Office. The statement said the journalist "refused multiple orders by police to clear from the area of the crime scene."
Taube was handcuffed, put in a patrol car and processed at headquarters before deputies took him back to his car at the scene, where he resumed covering the story. According to a Times Union reporter, Taube was present at a 2 p.m. police news conference on the deaths.
Taube was doing nothing more than his job, Post-Star editor Ken Tingley said.
"The arrest took place on a public road, four hours after the incident and there was no police tape around the scene," Tingley said in a statement. "When arrested, our reporter was asking police officers on a public road questions."
Tingley also wrote a blog post about the incident, where he says the paper plans to aggressively fight the charge. Taube has been a reporter at the newspaper for about a year.
Dayelin Roman contributed to this story. Reach Carleo-Evangelist at 454-5445 or jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com.

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