I Can't Wait to See the Brady Press Release

I Can't Wait to See the Brady Press Release

Gun-toting soccer mom is shot dead

Meleanie Hain, the pistol-carrying Lebanon mom who received national attention for taking a loaded gun to her daughter’s soccer game, was shot to death Wednesday night with her husband in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

Hain, 31, and her husband, Scott, 33, were pronounced dead by Lebanon County Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Yocum shortly after 8:30 p.m. at their home at Second Avenue and East Grant Street, police said.

The couple’s three children were home at the time and were not injured, and are staying with relatives and friends, police said.

Autopsies were scheduled for Thursday, police said. No other details were available at press time.

Neighbor Mark Long said Meleanie baby-sat his 3-year-old son and that she and Scott had been having marital problems for the last week. Scott left on Tuesday and Meleanie did not know where he went, but he came back Wednesday, Long said.

Meleanie Hain was thrust into the national spotlight when she took a gun, in plain view and holstered on her hip, to a soccer game Sept. 11, 2008, at Optimist Park in Lebanon.

Her permit to carry a gun was revoked by Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo on Sept. 20, 2008. DeLeo said Hain showed poor judgment in wearing her gun to the game.

Hain’s permit was reinstated by Lebanon County Judge Robert Eby on Oct. 14, 2008, but the judge asked her to conceal it when she goes to soccer games. Hain said she would continue to carry it openly under the Second Amendment.

Hain then filed a lawsuit against DeLeo for $1 million in U.S. Middle District Court seeking reimbursement of attorneys’ fees and costs, emotional distress and lost wages.

"She has been stigmatized unfairly," her attorney, Matthew Weisberg said at the time.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence then offered to defend DeLeo for free.

Daniel Vice, a senior attorney for the Brady Center, said at the time: "It is a case that calls out for common sense. ... It’s ridiculous to bring a gun to a child’s soccer game."

A hearing on Hain’s suit was postponed in May after one of the attorneys in the case was involved in an auto accident.

In an interview with The Patriot-News published Dec. 27, Hain said: "I am happy being a gun owner."

She said she had no intention of changing her views on gun ownership and noted her critics had no intention of changing theirs.

She acknowledged the publicity had detrimentally affected her life. "I have read all sorts of slander, personal attacks, and even threats toward me, my family, and, yes, some specific to my children," she said in the interview.

"The publicity surrounding me as a person makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. As stated previously, I am willing to talk to the press because the issue is so important, but the focus on me, personally, has been difficult because it simply is not about me," she said.

About the decision to sue DeLeo, Hain said she did it because she was wronged

"Just the fact that he was wrong is evidenced by the fact that my license was restored to me. ... I am a victim of Sheriff Michael DeLeo’s. I am a victim of those in society as a direct result of his actions as well. The way people look at me sometimes when I am out running errands, I feel as if I am wearing a scarlet letter, and really it’s a Glock 26."

For those interested, Ms. Hain was interviewed by Caleb and Breda on Gun Nuts Radio back in January.

I foresee much dancing in the blood of the slain.

Sebastian has more details. Her husband was apparently the shooter.