MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A woman died Monday after her boyfriend of seven years shot her inside a Montville Township home early Sunday morning, before he turned the gun on himself inside the basement, police confirmed.
Police said a woman involved in the standoff, identified as Rachel Azbell, 45, was shot in the head by her boyfriend Shawn Guillereault, 44, inside the garage on Stockbridge Drive. She was declared brain dead and was on life support until Monday afternoon, when she was taken off life support and declared dead.
Police said the investigation started after they received a call around 12:45 a.m. Sunday from a McDonald's employee. A teen showed up naked at the restaurant and reported a man had tried to assault her inside the same home on Stockbridge Drive.
The employee told dispatch she was driving the juvenile to the Cleveland Clinic Medina Hospital.
Police said Guillereault shot Azbell before he went up to the teen's bedroom.
"She was able to fight him off, and at some point, talk him down. He left that room and went into the bathroom, at which point she was able to escape," said Montville Police Chief Terry Grice.
The map below shows the location of the home on Stockbridge Drive compared to the McDonald's where the teen was found:
Standoff Timeline
At 1:01 a.m., dispatch received a frantic call from Guillereault who said a disagreement with Azbell got out of control.
"I shot my girlfriend in the head," he admitted to the dispatcher during the 911 call.
Warning: The 911 call in the player below contains graphic language and may be disturbing to some.
In the 911 call, dispatch instructs him to apply pressure to her head.
“Oh my god. I don’t know about this. She stopped fighting. She stopped fighting. I’m going to go to jail. I did this,” Guillereault said. “Oh my god. She just died.”
Throughout the call, he refuses to follow the instructions from the dispatcher to leave the home with his hands up because police were on their way to the home.
“I don’t care what the f*** the officer wants. That’s not going to happen,” he said.
Police said as they responded to the home, a security guard from the hospital called them and said the juvenile reported that a woman was shot in the home and there were other children in the home.
At 1:07 a.m., officers found Guillereault inside the garage. Dashcam video shows an officer running with a rifle in his hands towards the garage.
As officers approached, they found Guillereault next Azbell, who was shot in the head.
In the 911 call and in the dashcam footage released by police, officers can be heard yelling at Guillereault, demanding him to put his hands up and get on the ground, but he refused to surrender.
As officers got closer, within two to three feet, he ran up stairs into the home and shut the door.
At 2:41 a.m., SWAT used a ladder to rescue a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old from an upstairs bedroom. At 2:52 a.m., Azbell was removed from the garage and rushed to an Akron hospital.
Nearly an hour later at around 3:44 a.m., SWAT deployed a robot into the home, which determined Guillereault was dead inside the basement.
The aftermath
Medina County Coroner Lisa Deranek said Guillereault shot himself in the forehead using a shotgun, which was one of four guns found inside the home.
Deranek said Azbell suffered a single gunshot wound to the right temple, "almost execution style." The gun was at an angle and the bullet lodged in the lower part of the brain, just above the primitive part of the brain, which keeps the heart rate alive and someone breathing.
"At this time, she's on life support, her pain is controlled, her blood pressure is being monitored and she will be giving life-saving organs to those who are able can match," Deranek had said ealier in the day Monday. "We are getting something out of this horrible tragedy. Hopefully, something good can come of this."
Azbell's family has set up an online fund to donate to help with expenses.
