Thursday, June 02, 2005

Murder-Suicide At Owensboro Kentucky Target Store

A Daviess County Kentucky man fatally shot a worker he saw with his ex-wife outside a Target department store on May 31 and then killed himself, police said. Doug Ritchie, 51, of Owensboro, an employee of the Target store, was shot once in the back of the head and once in the left side with a 12-gauge shotgun, said Owensboro Patrolman Doug Esther, a spokesman for the police department. Esther said Robin D. Blair, 41, shot Ritchie and then shot himself in the face outside the Target store. Blair believed that Ritchie and Blair's ex-wife were involved in a relationship, Esther said.

Police arrived to find the bodies of Blair and Ritchie, he said. Blair had seen Ritchie standing outside the store with Blair's ex-wife, Traci Blair, around 2:21 p.m. CDT, Esther said. The Blairs were divorced in November. Police said Blair had borrowed a neighbor's vehicle and had driven to the store before firing two shots at Ritchie. Traci Blair called 911, Esther said. "It's upsetting, and certainly not something you would expect to happen in Owensboro," Esther said. "However this type of incident can happen anywhere, if it can happen here."

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