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Ex-wife of Beach shooting victim: This was just totally senseless

Posted at 11:43 PM, May 02, 2013
and last updated 2013-05-03 17:40:14-04

Virginia Beach, Va. - Two people are dead after a double shooting and wild police chase last Friday in Virginia Beach.

50-year-old Andrew Bonelli was shot several times by a woman police say he knew in the parking lot of Fed-ex freight where he worked.

That woman has been identified as 51-year-old Helen Ruth DeHarde of Virginia Beach.

Police say she turned the gun on herself.

But how DeHarde knew Bonelli, no one seems to know.

"Nobody knows her, nobody knows anything about her. I have no idea. So many questions. no answers,” says Marjorie Cluney, Bonelli’s ex-wife.

Bonelli's ex-wife, Marjorie Cluney says a co-worker of Bonelli's saw the shooting and when DeHarde took off he followed her.

After a two and a half mile chase, police caught up, cornering her inside a neighborhood on Campus Drive.

Melanie Lake was inside her home when she heard the gunshot.

As police worked to revive the woman, Melanie was giving thanks for her own life.

The bullet had hit Melanie’s car then ricocheted into her bedroom, where she was sitting just feet away.

"I just thought my cat knocked something over and then when I realized what it was. It was very scary and I was very blessed that it ricocheted the way that it did,” says Lake.

Bonelli and DeHarde were taken to the hospital. He died Friday and DeHarde died over the weekend.

Cluney is still shaken up. She says what she wants most is closure.

"The question is really why? I think that's everybody's question is why, because this was just totally senseless. It didn't need to happen,” says Cluney.

Related: 

Suspect in Beach double shooting dies