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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Tampa woman slain in Georgia had sought protection from ex-husband |
| 2018-04-08 |
| [TAMPABAY] John Wise always said "hello" to neighbor Kelly Garrison, but it wasn’t until they shared some strawberry daiquiris that he ever got to know her. Barely two minutes after she left his Carrollwood apartment that night, Dec. 30, he heard a scream "like nothing I’ve ever heard before." It was coming from Garrison’s front door. Wise, 54, kicked it in. It was dark, but he saw a man wearing a hoodie and a headlamp pinning Garrison down. Her gasps for air sounded like her last. He kicked the assailant in the head and lifted him off her. The two struggled for several minutes before the attacker fled. "I was fighting for my life," Wise said. But Wise wasn’t there Thursday morning when Kelley James McDonald tracked Garrison, his 35-year-old ex-wife, to her sister’s home in Georgia. In a few horrific moments, McDonald fatally shot both women then himself, orphaning the 2-year-old daughter the couple had together, authorities said. McDonald, 39, also shot a 16-year-old girl in the home, seriously injuring her, according to the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office. Garrison, who taught elementary grades at Corbett Preparatory School in Carrollwood, was harassed and threatened by her ex-husband for more than two years, according to a petition for protection she filed in Hillsborough County a few days after the Dec. 30 attack. That led the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office to secure a warrant for McDonald’s arrest on charges of breaking and entering and assault, sheriff’s records show. Deputies trying to find him heard from one family member that he was hiding out, the records show. An injunction granted by the court ordered McDonald to stay at least 300 feet away from Garrison and to surrender any firearms to the Sheriff’s Office. Four months later, however, McDonald was still at large. On Thursday, he arrived in Dahlonega, Ga., about an hour north of Atlanta, and found his daughter and ex-wife at her sister’s house, Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said at a Thursday afternoon news conference. "They had left the Florida area to come here and hide for safety and the suspect found them at this location," Jarrad said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 If only she had a restraining order..or a gun handy. But mostly a gun handy |
| Posted by: Frank G 2018-04-08 09:10 |