Gun-Toting Soccer Mom, Husband Found Shot Dead

Ought Six · 10-08-2009, 04:51 PM

Gun-Toting Soccer Mom, Husband Found Shot Dead

The Associated Press, via CNS News
Thursday, October 08, 2009

Lebanon, Pa. -- A mother of three who gained national notoriety after she openly carried a loaded handgun to her daughter's soccer game was shot dead along with her husband in what police said appeared to be a murder-suicide.

Meleanie Hain, 31, and Scott Hain 33, were pronounced dead shortly after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at their 1 1/2-story brick home in Lebanon, a small city about 80 miles west of Philadelphia.

The couple's three children - a 10-year-old boy and girls aged 2 and 6 - were home at the time but weren't hurt, police said. They were taken to stay with friends and relatives.

Some neighbors told the Lebanon Daily News they heard or saw the children running from the house and screaming "Daddy shot Mommy!" shortly before the 911 emergency center was alerted at 6:20 p.m.

Debbie Mise, who lives nearby, said she heard a strange sound following by the screams of the children.

"I heard something heavy drop or fall, and then right away I heard the kids screaming, but I thought they were playing," Mise said. "It was loud. But it didn't sound like a pop."

Autopsies on the Hains were to be conducted Thursday, said Lebanon County Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Yocum, who did not immediately return a morning telephone call.

Details about the shootings and what prompted the violence remained unclear Thursday morning.

Neighbor Mark Long said the Hains had been having marital problems for about a week. He said Scott Hain had left home on Tuesday, and Meleanie Hain didn't know where he was, but that he returned Wednesday.

Another neighbor, Brian Witmer, said he saw Scott Hain mowing his lawn around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary," he said. "He didn't seem strange at all."

Scott Hain worked as a parole officer in neighboring Berks County, the News reported. He was formerly a guard at the Camp Hill state prison, according to the newspaper.

Meleanie Hain made headlines after she attended her then 5-year-old daughter's soccer game in a park on Sept. 11, 2008, with her 9mm Glock pistol in plain view holstered on her hip, upsetting other parents.

The county sheriff, Michael DeLeo, revoked her gun-carrying permit nine days later.

Hain successfully appealed the permit revocation, although the judge who restored the permit questioned her judgment and said she had "scared the devil" out of other people at the game.

Hain sued DeLeo in federal court, alleging that he violated her constitutional rights and prosecuted her maliciously when he took the permit away. She said that because of his actions her baby-sitting service had suffered, her children had been harassed and she had been ostracized by her neighbors in Lebanon, which has about 25,000 residents.

DeLeo said at Hain's appeal that he revoked her permit after fielding the parents' complaints. He said he based his decision on a state law that prohibits certain gun permits from being given to anyone whose character and reputation make him or her a danger to public safety.

After Hain sued DeLeo, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which says it tries to reform the gun industry through sensible regulations, offered to defend him for free.

"It is a case that calls out for common sense," Brady Center attorney Daniel Vice said then. "It's ridiculous to bring a gun to a child's soccer game."

A court hearing on Hain's $1 million lawsuit was postponed in May after an attorney in the case was involved in a traffic accident.

SSG Rex · 10-08-2009, 05:20 PM

Quote:

A mother of three who gained national notoriety after she openly carried a loaded handgun to her daughter's soccer game was shot dead along with her husband in what police said appeared to be a murder-suicide.

Would that be the county sheriff's office? The one that's getting sued? Hmmm.

A.T. Hagan · 10-09-2009, 08:37 AM

They spent more text on the woman's fracas with the open carry than they did on her husband murdering her!

A parole officer I will note. The coward.

.....Alan.

Susie · 10-09-2009, 09:42 AM

Sounds as if she was difficult to live with.

CanadaSue · 10-09-2009, 02:16 PM

Standing up for & successfully defending her constitutional rights doesn't make her difficult to live with.

Susie · 10-09-2009, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanadaSue

Standing up for & successfully defending her constitutional rights doesn't make her difficult to live with.

True. But reading between the lines, it sounds as if she wasn't all flowers and sugar to live with.

Course, that's not a reason to shoot her, either.

CanadaSue · 10-09-2009, 02:42 PM

I didn't see enough to come to that conclusion. All that was said was that they were squabbling or arguing for a week. I suspect it's going to take some time before any more detail is available - if it ever is.

Susie · 10-09-2009, 02:45 PM

She was hard headed enough to wear a gun to prove a point, and to sue to prove another.

CanadaSue · 10-09-2009, 02:54 PM

Good. If you don't exercise rights, you lose them. She was within her rights under the law & winning her case made that point crystal clear.

Susie · 10-09-2009, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanadaSue

Good. If you don't exercise rights, you lose them. She was within her rights under the law & winning her case made that point crystal clear.

Yes. But she still sounds like a bitch to live with.

Ought Six · 10-09-2009, 04:18 PM

CanadaSue · 10-09-2009, 04:21 PM

How can she 'sound' like a bitch when we know NOTHING about her? Where on earth are you getting this?

koco · 10-10-2009, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Susie

Yes. But she still sounds like a bitch to live with.

Ok look, normally I don't bother posting and getting into petty fights.

But how dare you.

I have lurked here for some time, made one or two posts. I actually know several people who knew Meleanie, and I only wish I had the opportunity to meet her.

IRREGARDLESS of your opinion on carry, firearms, etc, NO ONE ever deserves to die like that.

YOU do not know the circumstances of what was going on behind those closed doors. They are not important as far as you or anyone else is concerned. However, please do not past judgment on a situation you know absolutely nothing about.

She left behind 3 children who watched her father, an LEO (which everyone in the media seems to be forgetting), shot her. How is that her fault? That has absolutely nothing to do with her opinion on firearms. Oh yea, and in Pennsylvania, she was in the majority for her opinion. You don't like it? Good thing you don't live here then.

For the respect of the loss of human life and those others who may have known her and read this or other boards, please have some decency and keep your comments to yourself for once.

--Krystal

Susie · 10-10-2009, 09:25 AM

I never said that she deserved to die. In fact, I said that wasn't a reason to shoot her.

What I said was that it sounded as if she were a difficult woman to live with.

CanadaSue · 10-10-2009, 09:29 AM

Nothing that as written gives ANY indication that she was difficult to live with. All we're told is that she was shot in a murder suicide & a legal case of signiicance she was recently involved in is detailed.

Susie · 10-10-2009, 10:03 AM

I disagree.

From what I read, it sounds as if she was aggressive and pushy and out for attention in her personal life, which more than likely spilled over to her political life as well. It seems to be that she was ready, willing, and able to not give a shit what other people thought if it meant she could do what she wanted to prove her point.

When it comes to gun control, it might have been better for her to be more diplomatic, although my comments were more about what I felt about her private life.

ob1 · 10-10-2009, 10:45 AM

Sounds like the husband was a pretty mellow dude.

Ross · 10-12-2009, 05:01 AM

Would the family have faced significant legal expenses as a result
of her court actions ?

Susie · 10-12-2009, 06:29 AM

Isn't is the loser in a court case that pays the legal expenses?

Ross · 10-15-2009, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Hain then filed a lawsuit against DeLeo for $1 million in U.S. Middle District Court seeking reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs, emotional distress and lost wages.

It would appear there were significant expenses . I wonder if they
were a factor causing marital friction ?

koco · 10-15-2009, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ross

It would appear there were significant expenses . I wonder if they
were a factor causing marital friction ?

Not entirely.

There was a lawsuit to help with those expenses and more in process. It had been delayed due to a lawyer getting into a car accident. AFAIK, that law suit is going to go forward.

If you guys want to know from those who knew her better than I did, please see here:

http://forum.pafoa.org/news-123/7491...tml#post934619