Family Mourns Woman Stabbed to Death in SWAT Standoff

The end came after nine hours of waiting for Roland E. Sheehan to release his ex-girlfriend, Ventura hairstylist Vicki Shade, a strongly religious woman who looked for the best in others but had the misfortune of falling for a man prone to drug use and violence.

After a daylong standoff with dozens of heavily armed and armored SWAT officers Friday, police said it became clear that Sheehan wasn’t about to give up peacefully.

They knew he had a history of violence, including still unconfirmed reports that he had served time in Rhode Island on a murder conviction. And they said he was growing increasingly agitated, telling officers he would not go back to prison and they would have to kill him to end the standoff.

That is when officers made their move, storming the home with tear gas and flash-bang devices.

Police said they found Sheehan, 43, in an upstairs closet and shot him 11 times after he lunged at officers with a large butcher knife. He fell dead. But it was already too late for Shade, who stumbled from the closet seconds after police rushed into the room and gunned down her former boyfriend.

The 37-year-old mother of three died a few hours later at Ventura County Medical Center as doctors futilely tried to stop the bleeding from several chest wounds.

But in the aftermath of his sister’s death, Shade’s brother questioned the police action. Colorado resident Donald Shade said given Sheehan’s history of drug use, it’s possible he was high and that the effects of the drugs would have worn off with time.

“I kind of like the idea of waiting him out,” he said Saturday. “I really don’t know what proper police procedure is but it kind of sounds like they provoked it.”

Police said they will investigate the circumstances surrounding Sheehan’s death. In the meantime, officers involved in the shooting have been placed on temporary leave.

Questions of police procedure aside, family and friends said Shade’s death was especially tragic because she had been trying to escape the abusive relationship she had fallen into with Sheehan.

Born in Washington and raised in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Shade graduated from Choctawhatchee High School and eventually started working as a hairstylist in that area. She met her husband, Bill Custer, when he was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base near Pensacola. The couple had two children--Wendi, now 13, and Kaci, 11--and moved to the Los Angeles area, where they divorced, Donald Shade said.

When Custer moved to the Ventura area a few years ago, Donald Shade said, Vicki Shade followed to be close to her daughters, who were living with their father. She met Sheehan on her first day in Ventura. He lived in the same condominium complex she was moving into and he offered to help her move in.

“From that day forward he just kind of wouldn’t let her go,” Donald Shade said. “Even though everybody who met him was very turned off by him, she was the kind of person who was not judgmental, who looked for the good in people.”

But the good she saw in Sheehan apparently ran out about six months ago. Friends said she grew tired of his drug use and kicked him out of the Wolverine Street home they had purchased together. She obtained restraining orders against him after he became violent and started stalking her.

Over time, friends said, Sheehan became increasingly dangerous. She went to the district attorney’s victim services division and had even used a cell phone supplied by that office to call police when Sheehan tried to force his way into her car as she left church as late as Thursday night.

Police were already looking for Sheehan because he had failed to appear for a late November court date stemming from charges of stalking, domestic violence and more than a dozen violations of a protective order, police said.

Authorities said Sheehan, whose real name is Ronald Bourdeau, died after being shot in the torso and arm. The coroner’s office is running toxicology tests to determine whether he had any drugs or alcohol in his system.

He leaves behind two daughters in Rhode Island, Alicia Bourdeau, 23, and Melissa Bourdeau, 24. He also has two daughters in Ventura, Desiree Bourdeau, 9, and Michelle Shade, his 17-month-old daughter with Vicki Shade.

Shade’s oldest daughters are living with her ex-husband, police said. Michelle Shade is in the custody of child protective services.

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Alvarez is a Times staff writer, and Wolcott is Time Community News reporter.