Man kills wife, her brother-in-law, self

PERRYVILLE, Mo. — A man angry that his wife was leaving him killed her and her brother-in-law Sunday when they showed up to remove her belongings from a house near Perryville, police said.

The husband, Jerry Moore, 68, then turned the gun on himself, authorities said. Perryville is about 70 miles south of St. Louis.

The killings in Perry County come less than two weeks after a Dec. 3 murder-suicide in Jackson, Mo., a town about 30 miles south of Perryville. In that case, a man killed two of his children and himself.

The Perryville shootings began shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday. Diane Moore, 55, of Perryville, showed up at her house in a gated community on Port Perry Drive to retrieve her belongings. Police said her husband was upset that she was leaving him, and he objected to her bringing three people along to help.

According to an account from the Perry County sheriff's office, Jerry Moore fatally shot his wife's brother-in-law, Dennis Stanfield, 54, of Barnhart. Moore wounded Alan Kennon, 46, of Perryville. Kennon, who was shot in the abdomen, was listed in serious condition Sunday night at St. Louis University Hospital.

Moore then fired at Stanfield's wife, Terry Stanfield, but missed. The bullet grazed her hooded jacket. Moore killed his wife with a single shot to the back, said Herbert Miller, Perry County coroner. Moore then fatally shot himself in the head, Miller said.

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