Shooting: no charges filed yet

Home City News Shooting: no charges filed yet

Angela P. Momenee’s threat to divorce her husband, James A. Momenee, likely contributed to the rage that led his father-in-law, Edward L. Michael, to shoot and kill him on Feb. 12, according to police reports.

“It’s a hard time for all of us,” Michael told the Collegian. “Things happened here that were really bad and a member of our family is gone now.”

No charges or arrests have been made in relation to the killing.

The Michigan State Police responded to a 911 call about the shooting in Ransom Township at 1:43 a.m. on Feb. 12, according to the Hillsdale County Sheriff’s incident report.

Upon reaching Michael’s home, the police found James Momenee dead and with a gunshot wound.

Family members at the house during the incident told police James and Angela Momenee were arguing in the living room and that James Momenee threatened to hurt both his wife and the rest of the family several times.

“He was in a rage,” Michael told authorities. “He was threatening everybody in the house…I was in fear of other lives.”

Michael added that James Momenee had a history of losing his temper and threatening his wife.

Angela Momenee, who had obtained a personal protection order against her husband in the past, told police she and her husband were having marital problems and had gotten into another argument that evening. He was unhappy that she had gotten divorce papers recently, although she hadn’t served him with them yet.

In addition to expressing anger toward his wife, Angela Momenee said her husband threatened to “get the family.” When he wouldn’t stop yelling at her, she ran out of the room and her father, Michael, came in with a gun.

Michael admitted to the police that he killed his son-in-law, claiming it was in self-defense of his family, according to the incident report.

Hillsdale County Prosecuting Attorney Neal Brady said he will not arrest anyone until he has a full understanding of Momenee’s mental history and the self-defense claims.

Brady said several more interviews about the case were done over the weekend and the last step before making a decision will be acquiring some medical records.

“It’s not very often you see a murder in the area, and it’s even less often where the claims are self-defense,” Brady said. “The goal is to see how legitimate that defense is.”