Evansville Police say Sunday’s shootings that killed 3 people were acts of domestic violence.
Police Sgt. Jason Cullum Department said 32-year-old Maygen Sears had obtained a restraining order against her husband, 33-year-old Daniel Sears, and was seeking a divorce.
Cullum said she contacted police the day before the killings about threats he had made, prompting police to look for Daniel Sears on preliminary charges of Intimidation and Invasion of Privacy…
("She had done what she needed to do. She got the restraining order, she filed the police reports when he violated it, she spoke with police. Unfortunately, it was in his heart and his mind that he was going to carry out an act of violence, and he did so.")
Police said Sears fatally shot his wife at 310 N. Linwood and then killed an acquaintance, 41-year-old Richard Popp of Worthville, Kentucky, in his car on Morgan Avenue near Highway 41.
Popp was apparently helping Maygen Sears deal with her domestic situation.
Sgt. Cullum said the restraining order did not stop Daniel Sears from carrying a gun, at least for the first 30 days of the order…
("You start to take away people's rights based of an allegation that you haven't had a chance to respond to.")
After Maygen Sears and Richard Popp were killed, officers found the body of Daniel Sears inside an SUV at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center.
He had apparently shot himself.
Police don’t believe anyone else was involved in the violence.
