Published: March 18, 2008 06:35 pm            

Man holds wife at gunpoint before shooting himself

By Sherry Koonce

The Orange Leader

PORT ARTHUR — A 31-year-old Port Arthur man shot and killed himself Monday evening after going to his estranged wife’s home, where he assaulted her at gunpoint.

The decreased, Willie “Chico” Gloston, was at his wife’s home in the 600 block of 17th Street when she entered the house, Major Raymond Clark of the Port Arthur Police Department said.

“When she came home, he stepped out of the doorway with a gun, he hit her and kicked her and pulled her down the hallway,” Clark said.

According to Clark, Gloston ordered his wife, 29-year-old Lotonja Gloston, to turn off a security system in the house. Instead of turning it off, she was able to hit a panic button and call police.

“From all indications, he came over to kill her, and then kill himself,” Clark said.

The couple’s two children, a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son, were at home during the domestic dispute.

When officers arrived at the home, they attempted to negotiate with Willie Gloston as he held his wife at gunpoint with a semi-automatic handgun. He alternately pointed the gun at police, then back at his wife several times before turning and shooting himself in the head, according to police reports.

The couple had a history of domestic violence, Clark said.

“It is unfortunate that the children and the estranged wife had to experience something like this, but it could have been much worse if she’d not been able to alert police,” Clark said.

Domestic violence calls are one of the most dangerous that police are called to investigate, Clark said.

“You can go there and it can turn. I’ve been in situations where you are rescuing someone from a violent circumstance and that party will turn on you, and you end up in a fight with both. It is a very volatile situation, as this incident indicates,” Clark said.

        

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