A Cleveland, Ohio, man accused of kidnapping a nurse and murdering her mother was killed in a Louisiana shootout with authorities.
FBI agents fatally shot James Edward Hawley, 47, late Tuesday at a hotel in Pineville, Louisiana, where investigators rescued Thoue Nichole Bronowski, 45, after officials tracked the pair down, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
Police said Hawley kidnapped Bronowski last week from her Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, home and fatally shot her mother, Norma Matko, 69, at her home in Barnesville on Thanksgiving Day.
Authorities suspect Hawley murdered Matko and then kidnapped her daughter, taking her to Cleveland in her mother’s car before abandoning the vehicle.
Investigators say Hawley then took Bronowski to Louisiana in a different car.
Bronowski’s ex-husband reported her missing on Thanksgiving, according to a police report.
Authorities said Hawley and Bronowski had been in a relationship before but declined to elaborate.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better result than her being alive,” Cuyahoga Falls Police Chief Jack Davis told reporters. “She has been through a lot…She is going to need time to heal from this ordeal.”
Cleveland.com reported that Hawley “posted numerous photos” posing with firearms on social media and made statements online and to others that he intended to “kill some cops.”
There had been a federal warrant out for Hawley’s arrest on charges that include threatening interstate communications and felony weapons possession.
One FBI agent was wounded in the exchange of gunfire with the suspect and is receiving treatment for his injuries.
Police said Bronowski, who works as a clinical coordinator for Akron Children’s Hospital and as a school nurse for Akron Public Schools, is being reunited with her family.