Investigators in Pulaski County released new details on Monday's murder-suicide and a copy of the 911 calls made shortly after a man reportedly shot his wife and then himself.
Call after call came in.
"What's the emergency?" asked the Pulaski County Dispatcher.
"To me, it sounded like gunshots," a caller responded, "I don't know what it is. There's a truck that's like off the road."
A series of violent acts unfolded in the middle of a residential street.
"Now the kids are running," another caller reported.
The tragedy shook a community to the core.
"It was like 'pop, pop, pop,'" said one caller describing the shots that were fired.
Callers came to the aid of the two children near the intersection of 13th street and Market in Winamac.
"A woman just got shot by her husband," said one caller. "The kids just flagged me down."
Winamac Police and the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department say their officers have not responded to Ella and Jonathan Minix's home recently, but Pulaski County Prosecutor Stacey Mrak said, in recent days, Ella did live in fear.
"She was asking for a protective order, but she was more concerned about her children's safety than her own," Mrak told WSBT News. "She really couldn't point to any recent threat to herself so there was some consideration being taken on whether the protective order met the criteria."
Ella Minix received the protective order.
Before the first shots were fired, prosecutors say Jon Minix knew a protective order was served against him, not only on his wife's behalf but also his 10-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son.
"How many victims are there?" a dispatcher asked one caller.
"Hold on, I'm talking to one of the kids," he replied. "Is it just your mother?"
"Yes," a child answers in the background.
"Just the mother," the caller replied. "The dad's down the street in a car about a block away, he hit her it looks like."
"Jon Minix was told that a protective order was issued," said Mrak. "He was verbally aware of that.
"He did not have paperwork in his hand that would indicate that the order was formally served on him, but he was aware."
While neighbors and Minix's children watched from nearly a block away, callers alerted dispatchers that Minix shot himself.
"He may have shot himself," said one caller. "I see a leg out of the car over there."
"He just ran into my garage," another caller reported. "He's laying out there, with the gun in his hand."
Those fatal shots marked a tragic end to this domestic disturbance.
