Fulton County, GA: Man gets life for killing estranged wife weeks after divorce, restraining order

Mrs. Asa Stean-Barrow divorced her husband and filed a restraining order against him. Weeks later he shot and killed her in the parking lot of a College Park mall in front of her teenage daughter.

On Tuesday, Mr. James Barrow, 37, pleaded guilty to killing his estranged wife in 2010, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.

A judge sentenced him to life in prison for killing the 32-year-old woman’s after she had reunited with the teen’s father.

The shooting happened on Nov. 28, a day after Thanksgiving, in the parking lot of Old National Discount Mall on Godby Road in College Park, the district attorney’s spokeswoman Mrs. Yvette Brown said.

Mrs. Barrow was shopping with her 14-year-old daughter and the teen’s father, Mr. Willie Lyles, when she spotted Mr. Barrow.

He pulled a gun on Mr. Lyles as the three attempted to leave.

“Lyles turned to run and Defendant Barrow began firing shots at him—fortunately missing,” Ms. Brown said.

A security guard then approached Mr. Barrow and ordered him at gunpoint to drop his weapon.

Mr. Barrow refused and instead turned the gun on his estranged wife, shooting her in the chest.

“He then stood over her and fired three more times, in full view of the victim’s teenage daughter,” Ms. Brown said.

Mr. Barrow then fled the scene and escaped to Alabama, his hometown where he has a prior conviction for stalking his former girlfriend.

He was arrested the next day after authorities discovered him hiding in a wooded area, according to court records.

They had been married five years when Mrs. Barrow filed for divorce and moved out of the couples’ DeKalb County home a month prior to her death.

Mrs. Barrow took out a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband two and a half weeks prior to the shooting after he vandalized her car and new apartment, Mrs. Brown said.

A Fulton County judge sentenced Mr. Barrow to life plus five years for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated stalking, cruelty to children and weapons charges, Ms. Brown said.