WELLSBURG, W.VA. - A West Virginia man shot and killed his estranged wife and wounded her father and a state trooper Friday, authorities said. His body was found inside the couple's burned-out house several hours later. Brooke County Sheriff Richard Ferguson identified the gunman as James Fluharty and said his estranged wife, Tina Fluharty, was killed. Authorities would not say how James Fluharty died or how the house caught fire. Wounded were Tina Fluharty's father, whom state police declined to identify, and West Virginia state Trooper Blaine Henderson, who suffered a shoulder wound when James Fluharty apparently fired two shots from the home at officers responding to his wife's panicked phone call. Officers fired two shots in return but did not know if they hit him. The fire kept police from entering the home and, fearing the gunman was still alive inside, firefighters were forced to battle the fire from a distance. Authorities said it was at least the sixth deadly domestic incident in West Virginia since Sept. 2. The shooting rattled residents of this county of 30,000 people in West Virginia's northern panhandle, about 45 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. School officials locked down the county's 10 schools for several hours as a precaution before Fluharty's body was found. SWAT teams of officers surrounded the neighborhood around the split-level brick house, which neighbors said Tina Fluharty had moved into around 1990, about a decade before James Fluharty joined her there. Neighbors said the couple were in their late 40s or early 50s. Authorities said Tina Fluharty and her parents went to the home in the morning to pick up some of her belongings. James Fluharty screamed at his mother-in-law to get out of the house and go back to the car, Ferguson said. At 11:36 a.m., a police dispatcher received a call from Tina Fluharty, who said her husband was "tearing the house up," Ferguson said. Tina Fluharty was still on the phone when a dispatcher heard her scream and say, "He shot me," Ferguson said. Authorities found her body in the backyard, and they believe she had been shot in the back. The cell phone remained in her hand. Nearby was her elderly father, shot at least twice but still alive, authorities said. He was transported by STAT MedEvac to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Oakland, where officials declined to discuss his condition. Henderson, a seven-year veteran, was shot when he arrived at the house. He was treated at the scene by paramedics, and stayed until the area was secure. Then he was taken to Weirton Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Not knowing whether Fluharty might have escaped, state and county officers searched the area, which includes railroad tracks and a bridge over the Ohio River. Authorities in Ohio were on the lookout until Fluharty's body was found inside the home. State police said James Fluharty had filed a restraining order against his wife several months ago, but it was no longer in effect. Ferguson said a family court judge was preparing papers that would have allowed Tina Fluharty to live at the home and forced her husband to leave. Sheriff's officers had responded to several domestic disturbance calls at the residence. "I know we've been out there three or four times in the last few months," Ferguson said. One of James Fluharty's sons from a previous marriage, a teenager, lived with the couple until a few weeks ago, neighbors said. An older son, Nate Fluharty, is a news reporter at WTRF-TV Channel 7 in Wheeling. Neighbor Anne Leon said Tina Fluharty had returned to the home last week with a state trooper to remove some of her belongings. She and her husband, W.J. Leon, described the couple as likeable and said they never heard them arguing. However, about three weeks ago, James Fluharty told them he had sought a restraining order against his wife, saying she had "beaten him up." Neighbor John White called the events that unfolded yesterday a tragedy. "Two people are gone," he said. "It's a sad thing."

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