Medical examiner says wife of suspected gunman among 3 shot dead at suburban Milwaukee spa

Undated photo of Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, Wis. provided by Brookfield Police Dept. (AP2012)

BROOKFIELD, Wis. – A U.S. woman whose husband killed her and two others at the spa where she worked said he threatened to throw acid in her face and jealously terrorized her "every waking moment," according to court documents.

Authorities say Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, killed three women, including his 42-year-old wife, Zina Haughton, and wounded four others Sunday before turning the gun on himself.

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In a written request for a restraining order filed Oct. 8, Zina Haughton said her husband was convinced she was cheating on him and that aside from the acid threat he also vowed to burn her and her family with gas. He said he would kill her if she ever left him or called the police, according to the court papers obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

"His threats terrorize my every waking moment," she wrote.

In a separate police report, she said the couple was in the process of getting a divorce and "we are always arguing."

Haughton was arrested earlier this month for slashing his wife's tires; she was granted a four-year restraining order on Thursday.

Under the order, Haughton was prohibited from owning a firearm. But police said Monday that Haughton bought the .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun used in the deadly shooting two days later.

Police responded last year to reports of domestic violence at the Haughtons' home. Zina Haughton called police saying her enraged husband had thrown her clothes and bedding into the yard and doused her vehicle with tomato juice. Radcliffe Haughton was charged with disorderly conduct following the 90-minute standoff with police, but the charge was later dismissed because a witness failed to appear in court.

Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus said he wasn't aware of a motive in Sunday's shooting.

Customers described Zina Haughton was a popular hair stylist who decorated her work station with photos of her two daughters.

"She was a wonderful mom," Kristin Guadagno told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "She had two daughters who were the foundation of her family. She was their everything. She worked so many hours every week to provide for them and take them on nice trips."

The shootings that happened about 11 a.m. Sunday triggered chaos in the commercial area around the spa. Believing Haughton had fled, police began a massive, six-hour search that locked down a nearby mall, country club and hospital.

It was the second mass shooting in Wisconsin this year. Wade Michael Page, a 40-year-old Army veteran and white supremacist, killed six people and injured three others before fatally shooting himself Aug. 5 at a Sikh temple south of Milwaukee.