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Man Died By Suicide After Allegedly Shooting His Pregnant Ex-Wife And Her New Boyfriend To Death
Richard Cook is believed to have died trying to protect his pregnant girlfriend Jessica Martin as her gun-wielding ex-husband, Jeffrey Lynn Martin, attacked them.
An Alabama man has been accused of killing his pregnant ex-wife and her new boyfriend before dying by suicide last week.
Jeffrey Lynn Martin, 47, allegedly shot his 35-year-old ex-wife Jessica Martin and her new boyfriend, Richard Cook, 40, to death in a home in Phenix City on Sept. 24, local outlet WTVM reported.
Jessica Martin, who was in the late stages of pregnancy, was just six weeks shy of her due date, WTVM reported. First responders tried to save both her and her unborn child. She was transferred to a nearby hospital where she died from gunshot wounds, according to WTVM.
After shooting the couple, Jeffrey Martin fled into a wooded area near the home where he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Cook reportedly tried to save his pregnant girlfriend in the attack.
“I just want to say, Richard really went out like a real man for his family," Jessica Martin’s uncle Terry Moore told WTVM. "He stood his ground, and when that man came in his house, Richard stood there with a baseball bat against a gun, and he died protecting his wife and unborn child."
Jessica Martin and Jeffery Martin’s 14-year-old son was also in the home during the shooting.
“When I came up in the driveway, [the son] came up running to me saying, ‘Uncle Bubba, Richard’s dead, my dad shot him in the head, he went in there and said, ‘My mom is gurgling,'" Moore told the station.
Moore added that the teenage boy has been through a traumatic event and may need counseling from what he witnessed. Jessica’s sister, Samantha Autry, told WTVM that the unborn child would have been named Robbie, after his grandmother. She characterized her slain sister as her family’s “glue.”
"Jeffery Martin was someone who should have stayed in the past, he was long gone, and that’s all I have to say about that,” she added.
Jeffrey Martin had been out of the picture for 10 years for Jessica Martin but began threatening her the day before the shootings. Moore claims that he was stalking her and even camped out across the street from her home.
