By Donna Hales
Phoenix Staff Writer
January 14, 2010 01:15 am
— A Muskogee woman remained in critical condition Wednesday evening after her boyfriend shot her and then turned the gun on himself.
Melissa Thayer, 30, is in intensive care at Muskogee Regional Medical Center, said Police Investigator Greg Martin.
Investigators say Michael Shane Johnson, 37, died Wednesday morning after shooting Thayer at the home they shared at 1619 S. Aberdeen St.
Neighbors said the couple pretty much kept to themselves and that a younger child and a teenager also lived in the home.
A neighbor, Terri Steward, said the couple moved to the neighborhood in August.
“There were never any disturbances down there — never saw police down there,” Steward said. “We never saw any signs that anything was wrong.”
Police were called to the home at 1:43 a.m. after getting a report that shots had been fired.
Johnson talked with a police negotiator via phone for several hours. When police heard gunshots, the Special Operations Team went inside where they found the couple in the bathroom. Johnson was dead, Martin said.
“Both had been drinking,” he said. “There was past history of him using medicine for depression.”
The couple’s landlord, Gerald Goad, said he talked with Johnson’s 18-year-old daughter who lived in the home but wasn’t there at the time of the shootings.
He said Johnson’s daughter and others told him they talked with Johnson on the phone and could hear Thayer screaming in the background.
Goad said Johnson’s daughter told him Johnson had a little derringer. He said he doesn’t know if that was the gun he used to shoot himself and Thayer.
Thayer’s family declined comment Wednesday. One family member said it was just too soon for them to say anything. Another said the family needs prayers.
Funeral services for Johnson are pending with Granger-House of Winn Funeral Home.
Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales @muskogeephoenix.com.
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