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Shelter shooting leaves us with more questions than answers
Based on all the articles we’ve had in this newspaper and read in other publications, Bonnie Woodring did everything she was supposed to do when she found herself in a relationship that had turned abusive.
First, she sought a restraining order against a man who had turned violent. When her husband, John Woodring, disregarded that court-ordered protection, Bonnie Woodring took her child and moved into what should have been a safe haven – the REACH women’s shelter.
Bonnie Woodring, a trained nurse who spent her career helping others, must have thought that these steps would eventually lead her to the happy ending she sought. Unfortunately, she was wrong.
Her estranged husband evaded the police for several days. On the Sunday afternoon before the Monday night he gunned his wife to death, he posted an apology on the couple’s shared Web site. He gained access to REACH’s secure shelter by watching and waiting until a staff person on duty was leaving for the night and pushed his way into the building.
In the end, despite the best efforts of everyone who tried to protect Bonnie Woodring and of the slain woman herself, John Woodring succeeded in killing her and has thus far evaded arrest.
The lesson here is apparently that the world’s a dangerous place at times, and it’s impossible to keep someone 100 percent safe.
Some people might say law enforcement officers should have tried harder, or that REACH should have done more, but that’s not what we think. To lay blame would be to scapegoat dedicated individuals who spend their days helping others.
REACH has sheltered thousands of women and children through the years, and, as far as anyone knows, this is the first time an abusive spouse or partner has breached the group’s safe house.
The Sylva Police do their best, day after day, to protect all the town’s citizen’s.
What made this situation turn deadly was the apparent determination of a man who has spent years studying criminals and their methods. John Woodring, from all appearances, didn’t act in a moment of rage – he made his plans carefully and bided his time until he could carry them out.
The result is that Bonnie Woodring, a popular nurse at Harris Regional Hospital who followed the experts’ advice, is dead, leaving us all in shock and bewilderment that something so tragic could happen in our quiet community.
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