Maxine Redfern told a Baltimore judge she feared what her husband might do because she filed for a divorce. She said his behavior had become “more and more erratic,” prompting her to call police on two occasions when she said her husband refused to stop intruding on her space in their home, where they lived together while separated, or prevented her from leaving. Last month, less than two months later, police believe her husband fatally shot her before opening fire on responding officers, who fired back. Investigators found a handgun next to Arnel Redfern, 52, who died at the scene, reports the Baltimore Sun. Maxine Redfern, 48, had taken the steps that Maryland’s legal system offers to people experiencing abuse — she sought a protective order along with her divorce filing. She didn’t think her husband, who had convictions that would disqualify him from possessing a gun, had access to firearms. He hadn’t made any threat of physical violence, but was “constantly harassing” her over the divorce, she said.
Leaving is “one of the most dangerous times” for people facing intimate partner violence, who are significantly more at risk of physical violence, said Whitney Adell of the Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence. About one-third of the victims of intimate partner violence who were killed in Maryland in 2021 died while trying to end a relationship or after they already had. In October, a judge ordered Arnel Redfern to surrender any firearms, vacate the home, and have no contact with his wife. “I could never harm her. I love her,” he told a judge. Police have not said how they believe Arnel Redfern obtained a handgun. He was convicted of offenses in the 1990s that would disqualify him from gun ownership in Maryland. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a case where its conservative majority, which has struck down centuries-old gun control measures, is weighing whether people subject to domestic violence restraining orders can be forced to surrender their firearms.
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