Wife Killed In Front Of Daughter At YMCA

Suspect At Large After Arguing With Wife As She And Girl Waited During Son's Swim Class

(AP)  A man shot and killed a woman in front of their 11-year-old daughter inside a YMCA recreation center while a swimming class for preschoolers was going on nearby, officials said.

Authorities said Monica Paul, 31, argued with the suspect, Kenneth A. Duckett, 37, before he allegedly opened fire about 6:30 p.m.

Duckett, the father of her two children, then ran from the building and drove off in a white Jeep with another man, who has not been identified, authorities said. The vehicle was later found; both men remained at large late Thursday.

Witnesses said YMCA staffers and parents helped get the children out of the building. None of the children was hurt, authorities said.

Essex County Prosecutor Paula T. Dow said Paul was shot multiple times at close range as she sat with her daughter in a waiting area outside the pool where her 4-year-old son was swimming. Witnesses told investigators they heard at least three or four shots.

Authorities said the slain woman was granted a restraining order against Duckett late last year.

[hamiltongrad]

Patriot: you are right. The Consitution is not 500 years old, TYPO !. Thanks for agreeing with me. I do not think , however, that the justice system is 100 %, as it falls within the confines of humans trying to pigeon hole what they see within the construct of rigid rules, regulations and societal male dominated expectations. All too often, even when proven wrong, such as by DNA, it is very slow to act or does not act to make things right. Thus, I believe that there should be an alternative means of evaluation by College Professors who have special knowledge of societies, philosphoival constructs, and child development, not for BLAME and NOT FOR PunishMENT, no, not in 2008 but for making things right, moving on and education for all to accept what is, not what we wish to be. Blame is not the answer, neither is the rigid "laws" made by ego centric men to dominate women and people of color.

[patriot12436]

Hamilton grad
Your statement has merit but our constitution is only a little over 200 years old. I don''t think it is a question of getting it back to gether when an individual has gone over the line and committed a cold blooded murder. Just from the facts given in the paper it shows premeditation. I also agree we need all the facts to determine exactly what happened. That is why i like to rely on our legal system, to carry out justice, not have a miscarriage of justice.

[hamiltongrad]

Once again we have a domestic case where violence has erupted, possibly due to marital stress or other factors, and we have a case where people are very quick to judge, not based upon facts but emotions.
We do not know this man, his stresses, or what pushed him to act this way. We do not know what was denied to him in life. Was he yelled at by his teachers, did he suffer mental or physical bait and switch during a relationship gone wrong.
In society, when "bad things" occur, it is NEVER just one person at fault. It is all of us who must ask for understanding, as all of us make up our society, not just one person.
AS a professor of Society and the World, I have studied this, and my goal is to make it clear to the average JANE and JOE -- not to BLAME others. And , clearly, PUNISHMENT has no role in getting it back together. Moving on, understanding, and fixing society will be the key root issues, not more violence. I am fully aware that these ideals and ideas make people uncomfortable, but so did the Constitution of USA, now over 500 years old !

[bhappy2-2]

Thank God the perverted "conservatives" on the Supreme Court have perverted the meaning of the Second Amendment, re-writing it to suit their own purposes, and protecting the right of a man like this to gun down his wife in front of his daughter. God bless the GOP for appointing these "strict constructionists" to the court!

Posted by Voltaire333

Hey Jer-Koff, the SC did not pervert ANYTHING. They did, however, INTERPRET the Second Amendment. Nor did they re-write anything. They merely affirmed that the Second Amendment IS an individual right, not a collective right. And, the right to keep and bear arms DOES NOT give ANYONE the right to MURDER someone else.
That would be a decision made BY THE INDIVIDUAL to carry out an act which is a VIOLATION OF THE LAW. That would fall under that whole, pesky FREE WILL thing you hear so much about.
This is what we have been telling you gun banning freakazoids for a long time; Criminals, by definition, DO NOT OBEY THE LAW. That''s why they are CRIMINALS!

[mydiatribe]

Any dolt who would so easily blame ''the gun'' for violence is too immature to accept responsibility.
He/she is likely to blame ''the spatula'' for breaking the yoke while turning a fried egg.

[voltaire333]

Thank God the perverted "conservatives" on the Supreme Court have perverted the meaning of the Second Amendment, re-writing it to suit their own purposes, and protecting the right of a man like this to gun down his wife in front of his daughter. God bless the GOP for appointing these "strict constructionists" to the court!

[patriot12436]

tootal10142
Good for you. It is a terible thing to take a life but you removed a scum element from our society. I think it was righteous.

[tootall10142]

Restraing order my eye.these are just well dressed warnings from a judge .the best defense is a good offense . i carry a weapon with me EVERYWHERE i go and will not be a victim.i was attaked by a meth head iut of mistaken identity he hit me face with a pipe , crushed the left side of my face.HE picked the wrong man , I dropped him like a deer right where he stood .Unfortunatley he died too fast in my opinion but a 44cal. at six feet will do the trick.

[patriot12436]

dragonwagon5
Are you and ubrew12 the same person ? You make the same sick comments. It doesn''t have shock value, it is only disgusting that you would belittle someones death in such a manner.

[patriot12436]

mydiatribe
A very rational statement. I totally agree.

[mydiatribe]

The only thing that will stop a maniac with a gun intent on committing murder is another citizen with a gun who is skilled at using who has sufficient dispassion to make a rational assessment to do what is necessary.

This is precisely why we employ law enforcement or a military response. The Police cannot possibly be everywhere at once. It is wise to permit law abiding citizens to stand in.

The problem is not the gun, it is screening out the criminals and the crazies.

[patriot12436]

ubrew12
I do not whine. I state it is my right under the constitution and i will not surrender my weapons to anyone or any govt. Period. I do not advocate anyone having a weapon. That is a personal decision for those who are given this right. I do not go lookig for someone to shoot. If it happens that i must then it will be because they came looking to do harm.

[patriot12436]

ubrew12
Your comment was cold and uncalled for.I would nver wish for anyone to witness a murder, especially a child. You were out of line.

[jodyrae4]

restraining orders are a joke

[tmittelstaed]

Unfortunately, in this case the wife did the wrong thing. As soon as her husband walked up she should have immediately walked into the Y office and called 911, and refused to talk to her husband. He likely would have pulled his gun anyway, since this appears to be a partly premeditated job, but in such close proximity to other people, someone might have had the presense of mind to smash the back of his head in with some large, heavy object before he could have gotten off a few shots. Instead, she engaged him in an argument. In most situations, if bystanders see 2 people arguing with each other, they assume that both people -want- to argue. Very few are going to assume that one of the parties is going to haul out a gun.
Like a lot of people I carry a cell with me and if I see 2 people arguing I will ignore it, but if I see one person obviously scared of the other, and running away, I would be on the cell in seconds, dialing 911.
With luck, the other unidentified man will read the news and call a tip into police as to where the perp is hiding out. With better luck, in the process of apprehending the perp, he will resist and the cops will shoot him.
One of the big problems with these kinds of issues is that women in these sorts of relationships will get repeatedly conned, part of them -wants- to believe that hubby will -get better-. So they will continue to engage hubby, even if there''s a restraining order.

[ubrew12]

ubrew12 said: "I''m glad the daughter had to watch. Its important to educate our children about the Constitutional rights of gun owners."

patriot12436 said: "You are one sick sob. "

I''d rather say it and prevent it from happening, than blather on about my right to own a gun, and let it happen. And that''s what happens, daily, here in America. American gun owners whine constantly about their God-given right to take a life to protect their property, and just as constantly look the other way when the life taken is a bystander. To say it again:

just because you have the right to smoke a cigarette, doesn''t mean I have to die of secondhand smoke.

[patriot12436]

ubrew12
You are one sick sob. I would never wish for anyone to have to witness the killing of any human being, much less a child.

[toldyouso12]

If not a gun, then a golf club, if not a club then a knife, if not a knife then whatever--when someone wants you dead they can find a way--and they will probably succeed. In Indiana, the death of this woman in this way, is why police must notify former victims that their nightmare is going to be released prior to the con getting out. You want to blame guns--because that is something to latch on to and to blame--but you delude yourself if you think the same killers would not kill if there were no guns--people to not use guns to kill as an absolute--if they want to kill and guns are not available--maybe they will go to bombs or poisons or cars--shooting is a method not a mandate to a killer.

blaming guns for this death is like blaming skimpy clothes for a woman''s rape. It is finding a factor you can rail against and think you can control--guns are not our problem in this society--it is deeper than that. At some point, Americans began to think that killing other people is okay or not that big a deal. We do it by preemptive war, we do it by guns, by knives, by strangling, smothering, etc. There is a sickness among us--it''s like we can''t be destroyed by another country--so nature is making us destroy ourselves. "The Happening" slowly--life imitates art.

[toldyouso12]

Oh no, guns don''''t kill people...people kill people. If the stupid dad had opted to strangle her, maybe someone could''''ve intervened...quicker!Posted by BBrundj at 07:26 PM : Jun 27, 2008


Just last week, we were all blogging about that dad who stomped his 2 year old to death in the middle of the street while a lot of people looked on and called 911. The man was finally taken out with a bullet by the police, the baby had to be identified by DNA. Had the man strangled his wife, many would not have intervened (feeling it was a family matter) except for calling 911--the daughter would then have the memory of the time and pain and proximity of her dad, choking her mom to death--while strangers looked sadly on, but never jumped in to do anything.

It happens all the time. Years ago a woman in Indy was killed with a rifle. Her husband got out of jail and the police did not tell her--even though the reason he went to jail was for trying to kill her. He found her, drug her into a neighbor''s yard--and with surrounding neighbors looking on, he pummeled her in the face and head over and over again until she died. Bits of her skull and flesh were embedded in the butt when the police got there. Mr Biancha''s words? ''I told that ***** she was gonna die and I meant it''.

[toldyouso12]

It''''s a complete mystery. The murder rate should have gone up at a very fast rate. After all, guns prevent murder.

It''''s probably just a conspiracy. Yeah, that''''s it.

Posted by martel_v at 06:56 PM : Jun 27, 2008


It''s not a mystery at all. The truth is, a certain segment of the population not only buy guns--they collect them. Gun ownership is not increasing by person per se but by buying power. Then there are the fact that we are in two wars with a very bad economy that is getting worse, high inflation, rampant crime and rampant corruption and double standards in government. There is a certain legal lawlessness going on. Add it all up then throw in fractured families, very dysfunctional family units, a spoiled country and an amazing amount of stress. Lastly throw in a sense of densensitization to others and disassociation with others due to the way we are living these days via phones, the internet, video games, etc. In the end, we are inured to violence and sense it happens so much around us, people either develop a higher tolerance for it all or go out and buy more guns to protect themselves from it all. As the economy gets worse, the crime and violence will grow--then gun ownership will grow to combat that--more violence will happen. Each feeds the other. There''s no mystery in this.