Police: Estranged husband kills woman near shelter
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — A man shot and killed his 55-year-old estranged wife Wednesday just outside a South Carolina domestic violence shelter where she had been staying for six weeks, county deputies said.
Robert O'Shields Sr. pulled up beside his wife around 7 a.m. outside the shelter in Spartanburg and fired several shots before driving away, deputies from the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
Mariann O'Shields died about two hours later in surgery, according to the coroner's office.
The woman had a protective court order against her husband, only allowing him to text her about custody issues involving their daughter. She went to the sheriff's office the day before she died to report he had contacted her about other things, according to the news release that was issued by public information officer Lt. Kevin Bobo.
Investigators said Mariann O'Shields had lived at the Safe Homes Crisis Center for six weeks with her daughter and she had just taken the girl to the bus stop before she was killed. The girl did not witness the shooting and police didn't release her age.
Safe Homes Crisis Center doesn't give its address and deputies are trying to figure out how O'Shields Sr. knew his wife was living there.
O'Shields Sr. drove away in a van, but was arrested a short time later. The news release said he has been charged with murder and it wasn't known if he has a lawyer.
