As friends and family continue to mourn the shooting death of a Bucks County woman, officials are investigating how her ex-husband accused of killing her managed to obtain the murder weapon.
The Bucks County district attorney's office says 45-year-old Violeta Isackov was killed Thursday evening in the parking lot of a Lower Southampton Township dress shop.
Police say Isackov had just left a dress shop on Bustleton Pike with her 16-year-old daughter and they were sitting in the car when her ex-husband, Kenneth Philipp, pulled up behind them, jumped out of his car, grabbed his shotgun and opened fire, according to Lower Southampton Township Police. Isackov died from her wounds while her daughter was injured by flying glass.
Philipp, 50, was later found dead after a shootout with police officers. It wasn't immediately clear whether he killed himself or was shot by police.
The Bucks County Courier Times says the woman was planning to remarry later this month and was at the shop for a final fitting for her wedding dress.
Philipp had been released from prison April 2 after being locked up in November for assaulting Isackov with a knife, police say. He also had a protection from abuse order against him which should have prevented him from obtaining the shotgun.
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"If you currently have a protection from abuse against you, then you can't obtain a gun," said David Zellis, former prosecutor and current chair of the Bucks County Domestic Violence Fatality Commission.
Zellis says he recommended to state and federal lawmakers back in 2008 to make it tougher for those with PFAs to obtain guns. Since that report was issued however, Zellis says changes have not been made.
"They have to tighten up the laws," he said. "If it means somehow creating a supervision that oversees people who are on protection from abuse orders or have been sentenced for time on protection of abuse violations, then we have to do it."
Local domestic violence organizations told NBC10's Deanna Durante that protection from abuse orders work in most cases but that there is always room for improvement.
