Just reported on WHP-TV 21 News, Meleanie Hain, and another adult are dead of a murder-suicide in Lebanon, PA. If the name Meleanie Hain sounds familiar, it is: she was the mother who brought a Glock 26 pistol to her 5-year-old daughter's soccer game. The Lebanon County Sheriff later revoked her gun permit and Ms. Hain appealed to the courts. The judge overruled the sheriff and restored her permit to carry.
Ms. Hain's story made national news and here on the Daily Kos. The story was widely reported as a victory for gun rights, not only in Pennsylvania, but across the nation. Ms. Hain garnered support from the NRA and many other pro-gun individuals and organizations.
This story is so new that it has only just now been posted to the Lebanon Daily News website. It is not, as of time of writing of this diary, been posted to WHP-TV 21's website. Further updates will be added to this diary as details become available.
UPDATE: In my haste to post this story, I neglected to add my condolences for the entire Hain family and all who are affected by this tragedy, including her daughter and two other children.
Sadly, one wonders how many more of these we'll see because human beings, in moments of torment and passion, take the power of life and death into their own hands.
UPDATE 2: Corrected the title for spelling "totting" to "toting". [Thanks fly!]
UPDATE 3: Both the Lebanon Daily News and WGAL-TV 8 [Lancaster] are reporting that Ms. Hain's 33-year old husband, Scott Hain, was the other person killed in this incident. Further, police say that they have no reason to believe any "outside parties" to be involved. This is now almost certainly a murder-suicide. [Edit: added link to WGAL-TV's story on this tragedy.]
UPDATE 4: This is the final update this evening/morning. The Patriot News is reporting that the couple have three children, who were at home when the shooting took place. Additionally, the story indicates that the couple were "having marital problems for the last week" and that Scott left the home on Tuesday evening and came back on Wednesday night, the night of the shooting.
UPDATE 5: This really is the final update this evening, as I've work in the morning. Courtesy of "pico", who points to the York Daily Record report, there are additional details including comments from neighbors and witnesses around the home. This is tragic in and of itself:
Several neighbors said they heard or saw the couple's children run from the house screaming, "Daddy shot Mommy!" shortly before the 911 Center was called at 6:20 p.m.
[Edit: changed "Melanie" to "Meleanie", which seems to be the correct spelling of Ms. Hain's name.]