A legal handgun owner lived about three minutes of his life as a murderous thug before killing himself following shooting two women as they walked to church in Ames, Iowa Thursday, WSAW CBS-7 in Wausau, Wisconsin reports.
The law-abiding Johnathan Lee Whitlatch, 33, of Boone was simply driving his pickup with a loaded handgun in the car–as is perfectly legal in Iowa–when he approached his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old Eden Montang, who had filed a complaint with the court accusing him of harassment. In Iowa, until a judge reviews the case, the accused harasser gets to keep his or her guns, ’cause nothing bad will happen, right? In this case, the court was to hear the complaint sometime next week.
Well, that slot on the docket just opened up, because when the law-abiding Whitlatch drove up on Montang and her friend, 21-year-old Vivian Flore, just before 7 p.m. local time in the church parking lot, Whitlatch entered a short life of crime when he pulled his handgun, shot and killed both Montang and Flore, and then shot himself.
A search of Whitlatch’s truck showed that he had bought the ammunition one hour before the shooting.
Whitlatch had been accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Cedar Rapids bar by forcing his hand down her pants; he was scheduled to go to court on that charge next month. (Defendants on bail for non-violent offenses are allowed to keep their guns in Iowa. It is unknown if the Court required Whitlatch to keep his weapons or ordered them turned over.).
Whitlatch had another temporary restraining order filed against him in 2017, but it had been lifted about a month later. And his wages were beginning to be garnished because of outstanding child support payments in a case involving another woman.