Killer Walks Away After Shooting Himself

"CHARLES TOWN, WV — Police believe a man who shot his estranged wife to death in the Patrick Henry Estates subdivision in the Charles Town area Friday night had been drinking heavily before the shooting and that the shooting occurred in a fit of anger over the prospect of the two getting a divorce, Jefferson County Sheriff Peter Dougherty said Sunday night.

"Dougherty said 42-year-old Harold Stambaugh Jr. allegedly shot Victoria Stambaugh to death in her mother's house on 408 Beauregard Boulevard with a .40-caliber handgun, then shot himself in the head. Dougherty said Harold Stambaugh fell down in the living room of the home and laid there for a period of time after firing a shot into his mouth.

"Then Stambaugh got up, put a `towel or something` against his head and walked to a house at 254 Fulton Ave., where he had been staying, Dougherty said.

"Dougherty said the Fulton Avenue house is where Stambaugh and Victoria Stambaugh had been living before she began staying at her mother's house.

"`There was very little blood between (the Beauregard Boulevard house) and the Fulton Avenue house,` Dougherty said.

"Dougherty said Victoria Stambaugh was shot multiple times, but he declined to say how many. He said an autopsy will be conducted to determine exactly how many times she was shot.

"Police said on Saturday that Harold Stambaugh Jr. was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., after the shooting. Although police said Saturday that Stambaugh was in critical condition, he was expected to survive."

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