"It Was A Children Exchange Gone Bad"

"YAKIMA, WA — A Sunnyside woman who was shot Sunday night by her estranged husband before he killed himself remains at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center following surgery.

"Her condition was not immediately available by mid-morning today.

"Margarita Lepe, 36, was picking up her three children at the man’s house when the couple got into a fight and he shot her then killed himself, according to a news release from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office.

"`It was a children exchange gone bad,` said sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Robert Udell. `After he shot his wife, he took the kids out to the garage. I’m not sure how many times she was shot, but it’s possibly more than once.`

"Jose Angel Lepe-Garcia, 36, was dead at the scene.

"Both he and his estranged wife were found shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday in the same bedroom of the house where Lepe-Garcia lived, in the 300 block of Grandview Pavement Road, about two miles west of Grandview, Udell said.

"They had been estranged about two months, he said.

"Three children — a 13-year-old girl, 10-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl — were at home at the time of the shooting.

"The oldest called police."

Source: yakima-herald.com...