Worker shot to death at school; husband commits suicide

BIDWELL, Ohio - A man shot his estranged wife to death Tuesday in the parking lot of the elementary school where she worked and then went home and killed himself, authorities said.

Classes were canceled for the day after the shooting at Bidwell Porter Elementary School. It happened more than an hour before the school's 400 students began arriving for class.

Linda Shoemaker, 52, a cook at the school, was shot several times by her husband, Frank, at about 6:30 a.m. while she was still in her car, Gallia County Coroner Dr. Daniel Whiteley said. A co-worker summoned authorities.

''There were at least three shotgun casings on the ground around her car,'' Whiteley said.

Frank Shoemaker's body was found about 30 minutes later in a lawn chair in his front yard about eight miles from the school, Whiteley said. He was 66.

The couple were getting a divorce, and she had obtained a court order of protection against him, the sheriff's office said.

Bidwell is a small Appalachian community about 80 miles southeast of Columbus near the West Virginia border. Classes began there Aug. 28.