LORAIN, OHIO Man charged with killing wife at library in front of schoolkids

Police had gone to the couple's home Sunday night.
LORAIN, Ohio (AP) -- A crowd of elementary and middle school pupils on their way to a public library saw a man shoot his wife to death in the parking lot, police said.
Authorities say George Kallas, 62, shot the assistant librarian five times as she entered her job, then walked calmly into the library and sat down near an auxiliary police officer on duty.
Some pupils just out of classes at a middle school and elementary school nearby were headed to the library when the shooting happened Tuesday. Groups of pupils huddled and stared. Some cried as the woman was placed in an ambulance.
John Jackson and David Garrett, both 14, said they were in front of the parking lot when they heard several shots.
"We started running the other way," Garrett said.
Witnesses said the gunman told the auxiliary officer he killed his wife and gave his handgun to the officer.
Kallas, of Lorain, pleaded innocent Wednesday to a charge of aggravated murder. Lorain Municipal Judge Thomas Elwell set bond at $1 million and certified the charge for review by a Lorain County grand jury.
Attorney Kenneth Lieux, who represented Kallas, said his client had been married about 40 years, raised three children and retired from the city's Ford Motor Co. plant.
"I'd say he's pretty much in shock," Lieux said. Kallas did not speak in court.
Witness accounts
Witnesses told police that Kallas -- in a baseball cap and thick winter jacket -- paced for nearly 20 minutes across the street from the library before his wife pulled into the lot.
Police went to the couple's home Sunday night after Barbara Kallas said her husband pushed her down and refused to let her leave the house. She refused to file charges, but officers, worried about her safety, took three long rifles and a .38-caliber pistol from the home that night. Barbara Kallas told them she was going to stay with a relative.
Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus said the 57-year-old woman was shot four times in the chest and once in the arm with a .38-caliber handgun.