ANAHEIM : Man Shoots Lover, Then Self, Police Say

An Anaheim man distraught over his girlfriend’s desire to break off their relationship shot the woman in the left hand Monday before critically wounding himself with shotgun blasts to his chest and lower jaw, police said.

The victim, Lisa Crain, 25, was in critical condition at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana after the 3:10 p.m. shooting at the couple’s apartment on the 800 block of West High Drive, police said.

“He basically blew most of her hand off,” Anaheim Police Sgt. Chet Barry said.

The suspect, identified as James C. Dudley, 35, was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was also listed in critical condition.

Barry said that Crain had been trying to end the couple’s relationship “for some time” but that Dudley had tried to prevent her from leaving.

On Monday, Dudley apparently told Crain that he would kill himself if she left him, but then “changed his mind and fired at her left hand” with a 12-gauge shotgun, Police Lt. Ray Welch said.

After Crain was shot, she ran out of the apartment to a neighbor’s house who called for police, authorities said.

Meanwhile, Dudley walked outside to the garage, where he shot himself twice with the shotgun, once in the lower jaw and again in the chest, police said.

“I heard a loud boom, like something getting knocked down, before the shooting,” Dianna Arreguin, 31, who lives next door to the couple, said.

After the shooting she went outside to see what happened and saw Dudley “bleeding very badly.”

Both Dudley and Crain are expected to live, police said.