A former state trooper killed his estranged wife with a shotgun inside a central Pennsylvania supermarket Thursday and then killed himself, days after she filed for divorce and two months after he was accused of beating her, police said.
Mark R. Miscavish, who retired from the state police in 2011 after 15 years, killed Traci A. Miscavish at the County Market in Philipsburg, authorities said.
State police investigators said that he began searching the store for her after arriving there around 10 a.m. "He located her in an upstairs office of the business and shortly thereafter shot her and then turned the gun on himself."
Investigators recovered the weapon, but declined to say how many times it was fired.
He had been arrested Jan. 23 after Traci Miscavish, who had recently left him, returned to the home to retrieve some belongings, Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said.
Traci Miscavish believed her husband had been abusing prescription drugs and when she went to take them away, he wrestled her to the ground, pinned her arms behind her and attempted to bind her with duct tape, said Parks Miller, whose office was prosecuting him.
He pulled out a gun - a police affidavit said he did not point it at her - and threatened to kill her, but a passer-by saw him trying to drag her back into the home and stopped to help, Parks Miller said. He was charged with simple assault, terroristic threats and harassment and spent a week in jail before being bailed out.
Traci Miscavish, 49, filed for divorce within the past week.