Brookfield Spa Shooter Had Police Standoff in 2011 with Wife

Updated 2:45 p.m. Monday with information from Zina Haughton's petition for a restraining order against her husband and killer, Radcliffe Haughton:

The man police say fatally shot his wife and two coworkers at a Brookfield spa was involved a police standoff involving his wife in 2011 and more recently, his wife said he threatened to throw acid in her face and jealously terrorized her "every waking moment," according to court documents.

Radcliffe F. Haughton on Sunday killed his wife Zina, 42, of Brown Deer, and two of her coworkers at Azana Salon & Spa: Cary L. Robuck, 35, of Racine and Maelyn M. Lind, 38, of Oconomowoc, authorities said Monday. Four other women were injured; three were stable and one remained in critical condition.

An Oct. 4 alleged tire-slashing incident at Azana Salon & Spa was not Radcliffe Haughton's first domestic abuse arrest: He aimed a gun at his wife Zina in a January 2011 police standoff in Brown Deer, a criminal complaint alleges.

Haughton, who police say was the lone gunman in Sunday's spa shootings, was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with a misdmeanor count of disorderly conduct domestic violence in that incident. But the charges were dropped in June 2011 when an "essential witness" failed to appear in court for trial, records show.

On Oct. 4, Zina Haughton called Brookfield police after her husband showed up at her work and slashed her tires, according to a 27-page police report released Monday by Brookfield police. The Oct. 4 incident was the only previous contact Brookfield police had with Radcliffe Houghton before Sunday's mass shooting, police said.

She said shortly after she parked about 9 a.m., her husband pulled up in his Mazda next to her, leaned out his door and punctured her tires. Two coworkers told police they saw him stab her tires at least twice with possibly a steak knife. Police found at least three puncture marks and stratches on the rim.

While two Brookfield officers were at Azana, Radcliffe called the spa asking for his wife and was put on hold. An officer picked up and Radcliffe hung up. He did not answer his cell when police called him back.

"We are in the process of divorce," Zina Haughton wrote in a statement to Brookfield police. "We are always arguing."

She said they had argued about the divorce the night before and that morning, and she had called Brown Deer police to escort her to the house to retrieve some items before she went to Azana. Brown Deer officers did assist her and she went to work, where the tire-slashing occured.

She checked off a box on Brookfield police forms that said "yes" her husband had "harmed (her) in the past" and enforced her right to have a 72-hour no-contact order placed on her husband, barring him from being near her. After that 72 hours was over, she filed a restraining order request in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Brown Deer police arrested Radcliffe Haughton and transported him to Brookfield police at 2:39 p.m. Oct. 4. He was arrested, booked and released from the Waukesha County Jail, and warned to have no contact with his wife. Brookfield police referred the case for misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and domestic violence-related criminal damage to property.

Radcliffe Haughton told Brookfield police that he waited at the Azana lot for his wife to arrive to try to talk to her. He said she walked away from him and motioned to employees to call 911. Radcliffe told police he "tripped" near her 2005 Audi Quattro, but he said he "did not have a knife and did not puncture or damage the tire on his wife's vehicle," the reports say.

In Zina Haughton's restraining order request, she said her estranged husband  thought she was cheating on him.

She wrote in her the petition for a restraining order that he threatened her with acid and vowed to burn her and her family with gas. During Sunday's mass shooting, he allegedly started a small fire with flammables in a spa hallway, police said.

"His threats terrorize my every waking moment," she wrote. He said he would kill her if she went to police, she added.

Azana recently put up signs on its doors to keep all locked except the main door an employee said.

According to the 2011 criminal complaint obtained by Patch:

Brown Deer police was called to the Haughton's home in the 6600 block of West Glenbrook Road on a Saturday night, Jan. 8, 2011.

Haughton had thrown his wife's clothes and bedding in their yard and on top of her car, and poured tomato juice on the car.

His wife called 911. Police negotiators used bullhorns, urging him to come out of the house but he refused. They tried calling him but he threw his telephone out of the house.

The criminal complaint says Haughton stood at a window and when he moved back the curtains he "pointed a long-barreled black object out the window. He aimed his long-barreled object at Zina Haughton, who stood three feet away from officers outside."

His wife said he did not have any weapons. But police knew "based on past contacts with the defendant" that he was a former U.S. Marine, might have a gun and knew how to use it.

Officers had to shut down traffic and set up a perimeter around the home. The standoff "ended peacefully when officers left the scene," the complaint said.

Patch editor Jim Price and reporter Joe Petrie contributed to this report.