The Madison County man who shot his ex-wife, her new husband and the couple’s roommate Sunday afternoon near Ardmore used a high-powered rifle to fire 30 shots into the victims, an official said today. The killer, 43-year-old Darwin Brazier, then headed home to Cook Road in Madison County and killed himself when confronted by law enforcement officers about 8 p.m.

Officials had named Brazier and one of the three shooting victims — ex-wife Debra Hartley Rivera, 41, of 27774 Pinedale Road near Ardmore — but they declined to release the names of the other two victims Sunday pending notification of relatives. This afternoon, Limestone County Sheriff’s Deputy Stephen Young, public information officer, identified the other victims as Radex Rivera, 41, Debra’s husband; and the couple’s roommate, Timothy James Hayword-Boger, age unknown. 

Marriage, divorce and child custody issues may have prompted Brazier to kill the others and himself. His ex-wife had twice tried to obtain a protection from abuse order from the Limestone County Circuit Court but was twice denied. 

911 call about shooting

Around 1:44 p.m. Sunday, Limestone deputies responded to a 911 call to Rivera’s home. A woman, who has not been named, called 911 and notified dispatchers that Brazier had sent her a text message telling her he had killed his ex-wife, her husband, a man named Tim and was going to kill himself, Young said.

“Deputies found the bodies of the victims on the back porch of the residence,” Young said. “Multiple spent shell casings from 7.62 x 39 rifle rounds were found around the area of the car port. Evidence indicates Brazier fired 30 rounds from an SKS rifle with a high-capacity magazine.”

Shortly after the shooting, Brazier’s vehicle was found abandoned on Macedonia Road in Madison County, Young said. Brazier once lived on Macedonia Road, according to court records. Later, a SWAT team was at Macedonia Road near Alabama 53 looking for Brazier. They eventually found him at his Cook Road home, where he took his life. 

Limestone County officers were assisted by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and K-9 units and the Madison County SWAT team and other resources. 

Denied protection orders

According to court documents, Rivera claimed Brazier was angry that she had re-married. She said he was stalking and harassing her. In both March 2017 and 2018, she sought protection from abuse orders and was twice denied by Circuit Judge Chadwick Wise. On April 10, the judge denied the most recent request following a hearing that Rivera and Brazier attended and where testimony was given. Brazier was represented at the hearing by an attorney, Rivera was not.

Alacourt records do not indicate why Wise denied the requests. In her applications for protection, Rivera did not cite any incidents of physical abuse by Brazier, but she did cite verbal abuse, harassment and stalking.

In the 2017 request, Rivera said she found a GPS tracking unit on her car, which she believed Brazier installed. She said he also threatened to take their two daughters and he stole her notebook computer and gave her personal information to a convicted felon who then harassed her. 

Anger over divorce

When asked the motive for the murders, Young said there was “a bad marriage and a bad custody battle” between Brazier and Rivera.

Sheriff Mike Blakely also offered the following statement: “When tragedies like this happen and you have multiple casualties, it sometimes tends to make area residents feel unsafe,” Sheriff Mike Blakely said. “Limestone County was recently voted and rated the safest county in Alabama. This type of incident, although tragic, doesn’t take away from that. The victims were specific domestic targets of the offender. This was an unnecessary and unfortunate escalation of what appears to be a long-term history of domestic violence.”

Blakely went on to say, “Domestic violence doesn’t distinguish between communities; it can happen anywhere. It’s important that people are vigilant in reporting instances of domestic violence that they witness, and that victims report domestic abuses as well. We always remain hopeful that vigilance in these circumstances can prevent escalation to the point of senseless tragedies like this.”