Man Fatally Shoots Ex-Girlfriend, Kills Himself

An Anaheim man shot and killed himself Thursday after he fatally wounded his 25-year-old estranged girlfriend as she fled her Ontario apartment, police said.

Rodney Terry Cornegay, 30, died instantly after he pointed a shotgun at himself and pulled the trigger, said Ontario Police Lt. Don Manning.

An Ontario police officer fired three shots at Cornegay, but it is unknown, pending an autopsy, whether he was hit by the police bullets, Manning said.

Manning said that Cornegay’s former girlfriend, Brenda Lee Albright-Thurman, had frequently complained about Cornegay breaking into her apartment, smashing her car windshield and slashing its tires.

Albright-Thurman had obtained a court order restraining Cornegay from approaching her or her West 4th Street residence, Manning said.

“He just kept calling and harassing her even after she got the restraining order,” Manning said. “Our officers were called repeatedly.”

At 3 a.m. Thursday, Cornegay entered Albright-Thurman’s apartment through a broken window, police said. She ran outside as Cornegay began shooting and when officers arrived, they saw Cornegay firing at the woman, Manning said.

“When he saw them he stopped, turned and put the gun up to his chin and shot himself,” Manning said.

Albright-Thurman died three hours later.

The apparent ineffectiveness of restraining orders has long been a concern among police officers, domestic relations workers and legal advocacy groups.

A study by the University of New Hampshire’s Family Research Laboratory said that “easily obtained court protective orders, effective in most cases, are worthless against someone who is determined to hurt someone else.”