Man Shoots Ex-Wife, Kills Self in Pine County

BROOK PARK (AP) - Pine County sheriff's officials say a man shot and wounded his ex-wife at her home before killing himself after deputies tried talking him out of suicide.

Chief Deputy Steven Blackwell says the woman was able to text her neighbor for help after she was shot in the chest and barricaded herself in the bathroom of her Brook Park house about 9 p.m. Wednesday.

Blackwell says SWAT team members busted into the house with a flash-bang device to rescue the woman, not knowing whether her ex-husband was still inside. The victim was removed and taken to a Duluth hospital where she's in serious condition.

Her ex-husband was found in the living room where he held a pistol to his head. Blackwell says negotiators tried to convince him to surrender for about two hours before he pulled the trigger.