LIVONIA, Mich (WXYZ) — Livonia police identified the couple involved in Sunday's murder-suicide as Matthew Ethington II, 26, and Maria Martin, 22.
The two who were found dead in a Livonia condo. Detroit Police Department Chief James White came to the scene since both people were Detroit police officers. We're told they were on the force for less than five years.
Dr. Kenneth Wolf, CEO of Incident Management Team, Inc., told 7 Action News, “The dynamics of most domestic abusers are domination, manipulation and control and as long as they can control the other person, the relationship stays intact."
Police haven’t confirmed what led up to the violent encounter. However, they said Ethington shot Martin multiple times before turning the gun on himself. A baby was found unharmed.
Wolf said when someone wants out of a relationship, it becomes a crisis point, which creates risk for the person trying to leave.
“Because somebody may feel such a narcissistic insult, I’m losing control over this other person, the thinking may be ‘if I can’t have her, no one can have her,'" Wolf explained.
He recalled another domestic violence case that turned into a murder-suicide and also involved two Detroit police officers. Homicide investigator Ed Williams shot and killed his wife officer Patricia “Katie” Williams.
He then turned the gun on himself. It all happened in the parking lot of the Canton Public Library in September 2009.
When an officer is the perpetrator of violence, Wolf said amongst work colleagues, there's a sadness that someone was so distressed that they hurt someone else.
"There's also a sense of anger, a sense of betrayal. That officer betrayed the badge, betrayed the mission of a police officer, which is to protect and not to harm. So, whatever the person's motivations might have been, taking violence against another individual inappropriately is never something you can condone of accept," he explained.
