Distraught Deputy Kills Wife, Then Himself

ALEXANDRIA, La. —  A sheriff’s deputy, distraught over the impending breakup of his marriage, shot and killed his wife Thursday in the courthouse then killed himself in a standoff with police, authorities said.

Police Lt. Tommy Cicardo said Paul Broussard, 39, killed his 26-year-old wife, Andrea, in a stairwell of the Rapides Parish Courthouse where she worked in the clerk’s office.

“He ran from the scene on foot and we caught up with him about a block away in front of a local bank,” Cicardo said. “After several hours of negotiation, with him holding a gun to his head or to his chest, he shot himself in the head shortly before noon.”

The couple had a 2-year-old child and he had a 10-year-old child by a previous marriage, Cicardo said.