Ex-girlfriend of gunman in deadly Ky. church shooting shares what led up to tragedy

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - It’s been two days since police say Guy House shot five people, including a state trooper, leaving two women dead.

Officials say House was shot and killed by police after they found him.

The investigation is now in the hands of Kentucky State Police.

In the days leading up to the shooting, an ex-girlfriend of House, who wishes to not be identified, filed an emergency protective order.

She says their relationship started off well, with House moving in with her at the beginning of this year.

“A lot of good times, memories, it wasn’t all bad. It was just the last little bit,” she says.

But she says she later noticed a change in him.

“When he wasn’t able to see his daughter, I noticed a change in his behavior and mental health.”

She says when things began escalating with his behavior, she broke things off with House.

But on July 4, she says House came into her home, stole her firearms along with some other personal belongings, then stole her vehicle.

She filed an EPO the following day.

Inside the EPO, she details that for several months, House had emotionally abused her, threatening to get her fired from her job and even threatening to hurt her and her family.

That EPO was never served.

“I didn’t think it would go that far. There was like eight days they had, and they had warrants in addition to the EPO to be served, and he was out living his life. He wasn’t in hiding,” she says.

She says police shut down her street to look for House on July 6, and that’s when she told them he had suicidal ideations of being killed by a cop.

She adds she even provided police an updated address for House.

“When you communicate to someone that someone’s made the threat that suicide by cop and to kill their children’s mother, it shouldn’t be dismissed. It should be taken serious,” she says.

She says she never imagined what would transpire just a week later.

Darlene Thomas with Greenhouse17 says it’s situations like this that show how seriously these reports should be taken.

“When people are telling us they’re dangerous, we should listen to how dangerous they really are,” Thomas said.

Both House’s ex-girlfriend and her son say they wonder if this all could have been avoided.

“When they recovered the stuff on the fifth from the stolen vehicle, he should have been found then, and this should have been over. None of this should’ve happened. He shouldn’t be dead, they shouldn’t be dead. He should be in jail, and life moves on how it’s supposed to,” her son says.

“Everyone would’ve lived maybe, and he could’ve got the help he needed or if he was going to be incarcerated, he could’ve gotten different consequences. I don’t think this many people needed to die,” she adds.

House’s ex-girlfriend says her thoughts are with the families impacted by this tragedy.