Area sees second murder-suicide in less than a week
12:01 AM, Jul. 30, 2011 | Comments
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Police officers investigate a house where two bodies were found dead Friday morning in the 1300 block of Norris Drive in Bossier City. / Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times
A man killed his wife then turned the gun on himself on Friday, three days after the woman obtained a protective order against him.
Police entered the home of John and Brenda Hampton in the 1300 block of Norris Street about 11 a.m. and found the bodies of the slain couple, dead from gunshot wounds.
The shootings happened shortly after Bossier City police had accompanied the woman to the residence to get her belongings. However, city police were not at the house when shots rang out.
"She called for an officer to be at the house, but we got there and realized that no items were to be removed from the residence, pending a court hearing," said Mark Natale, city spokesman.
Police left the residence about 9:20 a.m., and Brenda Hampton left a short time later, Natale said.
"Apparently, she returned back to the house with some relatives and was attempting to remove items from the house when John Hampton confronted her and shot her once before killing himself," Natale said.
"Some relatives were inside the house at the time of the shooting, but no one else was injured."
Brenda Hampton, 51, had obtained a restraining order against her husband, saying he threatened to kill her.
In the document filed and signed by a judge on Tuesday, the woman notes, "He said he would kill me then he will kill himself. He said if he could not have me, no one will because I'm his wife."
Deputies attempted to serve the protective order on Friday but John Hampton, 45, was not home, said Bill Davis, spokesman for the Bossier sheriff.
The deputy who attempted to serve the paper left the Norris Street residence and returned after police were gone, and no one was there.
"The deputy returned about five minutes after we left and no one was at the house," Natale said.
A woman who only identified herself as Brenda Hampton's co-worker said the victim left her job at Cellixion about 8 a.m. and never returned.
Neighbors stared in disbelief on Friday as police gathered inside the yellow crime scene tape.
Those who knew the couple described them as "nice."
"John was the nicest person you'd ever want to meet," Becky Carr said. "I just talked to him the other day. He'd always sit outside in a chair.
"I don't know what could have gone wrong."
This is the second murder-suicide of a husband and wife in the Shreveport-Bossier City area this week, and the third this year.
On Monday, 40-year-old Ryan Douglas killed himself and his wife Carolyn Douglas, 49, inside their south Shreveport residence.
That happened a month and a half after the bodies of the Rev. Willie Guiden, a local pastor and businessman, and his wife Jan Guiden, were found in their home, about a mile from the scene of the Douglas shootings.
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