Authorities say a man angered by a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend burst into her northeastern Pennsylvania apartment and shot three people, killing her next-door neighbor on her 25th birthday, and then killed himself while his intended target hid in a closet with the couple's daughter and another child.
Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said 39-year-old James Cooper of Scranton shot and killed Shana Bagley, a mother of three, and wounded two men before turning the gun on himself on Friday at the Hanover Village apartment complex in Hanover Township, just outside Wilkes-Barre.
Bagley was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, 26-year-old Bradley, and neighbor Thomas Harris were listed in fair condition at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center.
βThis poor woman was a victim. She was at the house and caught in the middle,β Musto Carroll said.
She said authorities believe Cooper intended to kill Shaundra Langille, who was hiding in a closet with her 9-month-old daughter and another child during the shooting.
βNone of the children were injured, thank God,β Musto Carroll said.
The two had been in Luzerne County Court a day earlier in connection with competing protection from abuse orders. The judge granted temporary custody of their child to Langille and issued a one-year order barring personal contact between the couple.
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A cousin of the victim, James Burney of Wilkes-Barre, called Bagley βa sweet personβ who had a run-in with Cooper prior to the shooting.
βShe had a big heart,β he said. βHer problem was she had too big of a heart.β
Langille said she was thankful to be alive, but was saddened about her friend's death. She said they were supposed to celebrate that night.
βWe were supposed to have a luau for her birthday,β Langille said.