After reading recent posts, and learning more about the abuse suffered by fellow step-talkers, not just from step kids but from spouses, I saw this today and thought of everyone's stories and posts.

This could be any one of us, back then, and now we are stronger. I hope this woman knows that she is not alone! This happened in my current city of residence.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/story/news/my-safety/2017/02/28/man-pleads...
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A man has pleaded guilty to killing two people as well as wounding two others during a shooting that erupted in broad daylight at the Salinas Social Security Office's parking lot in 2015.

On Aug. 27, 2015, Samuel Ejaz, 51, of Garden Grove shot and killed his estranged wife’s aunt and uncle while trying to kill his wife and her cousin in parking lot on Blanco Road.

His 27-year-old wife had immigrated from the Philippines just months before they were married on March 15, 2015, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. They had met through a dating website, according to testimony. However, they began arguing as Ejaz became increasingly controlling about everything from the type of job she could have to how and when she could leave her home to the way she greeted him when he came home from work.

At one point, she tried to escape to a women’s shelter, and after she returned, he made implied threats of buying a gun to kill her. She abruptly left and enlisted in the United States Navy, according to the DA’s office.

Ejaz found out about her enlistment and began to plot to kill her, purchasing a 99 mm handgun and stalking her as she went through training. He emailed and called her incessantly and also tried to contact her through her aunt and uncle, Felicidad Legaspi, 51, and Oliver Legaspi, 64, who lived in Salinas, according to the DA’s office.

Ejaz found out from Navy personnel that she was scheduled for a two-week furlough and correctly guessed that she would visit her family in Salinas. He drove five hours to Salinas, and the night before the murders, he checked into a motel and drove by her family’s home while conducting surveillance. Investigators later found photos of the family's home on Ejaz's phone.

The next day, he waited and watched as his estranged wife, her cousin, aunt and uncle got into a car to go to the Social Security office.

He followed them to the parking lot, pulled up behind their car and pulled out his gun on his wife as she tried to speak with him. As she began to run away, he shot at her twice, hitting her once in the back.

Then Ejaz turned toward the aunt and fired at her three times, killing her instantly, according to the DA’s office. He then shot twice at her uncle, killing him, and then shot at the cousin until he ran out of ammunition.

Ejaz went back to his wife and began talking to her as she bled on the ground. A Good Samaritan approached and convinced him to set down the gun and give up a magazine loaded with more ammunition.

Ejaz was arrested without a struggle and provided police officers with a full confession. He said that he killed the aunt, uncle and tried to kill the cousin because they helped his wife “get away from him,” according to the DA’s Office.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, spousal abuse and enhancements for personal use of a firearm. The case was eligible for the death penalty, but the DA’s office decided not to pursue the death penalty, instead determining that life without the possibility of parole was more appropriate, according to the DA’s Office. Instead, the plea to all charges forecloses any further litigation, and the victims’ family did not desire the death penalty.

Ejaz is scheduled to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on April 14.