ELLICOTT CITY, Md. —
Court records show a man who police said killed his girlfriend and ex-wife before taking his own life was involved in a custody battle over two young children over four years.
Police said Rajaee Black shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, Tara Labang, inside a south Baltimore house before driving to Columbia, where he shot and killed his ex-wife, Wendy Black, police said.
Online court records from Howard County Circuit Court show the Blacks' custody case was reopened in 2018 and remained in near-constant filings over four years, one as recently as last week in which Rajaee Black accused his ex-wife of blowing off a court-ordered child custody exchange. A hearing was scheduled for next month.
Wendy Black begged the court to protect her from a man who she called "violent, unstable and determined to kill her."
Rajaee Black also accused his ex-wife of trying to hit him with her car, of hiding her address and, therefore, hiding the children.
But dominating the custody case file were domestic violence charges filed against Rajaee Black by his ex-wife, including her handwritten pleas to the court for protection, saying:
- "Rajaee threatened to kill me with a gun."
- "He has access to weapons, guns and has been known to abuse drugs and alcohol."
- "He has pushed, shoved, threatened and bitten me in the past. I am afraid of him and his anger and do not want him to know where I live."
- "I am terrified because I do not know what he is capable of doing to me and the girls. I do not feel we are safe. I do not feel safe at all. I feel that my life is in danger."
Court records show at least three different people filed for protective orders against Rajaee Black over the past several years, most recently an April 2020 petition by a child-care provider. That was denied by a judge.
A judge recently ordered Rajaee Black to pay $5,000 in attorney's fees to his ex-wife, an attorney she had to hire when he refused to turn over necessary documentation, including employment records, tax filings and proof and receipts that he had gone to a therapist.
On the day of the killings Saturday, Michael Eisenberg, a resident of the Columbia apartment complex where Wendy Black lived, said he found the Blacks' two little girls -- ages 4 and 5 -- inside a running BMW in the parking lot.
"I could see one little girl in there crying. I tried speaking to her, I don't think she could hear me that well," Eisenberg said. "I peeked in again and saw the second girl in there, and I was trying to calm them down."
Police said the girls did not witness the killings and are staying in a safe place.
Custody battle over years may have led to homicides, suicide (wbaltv.com)
. You're just in your feelings because you want me to blindly believe a murderer on some fake pro-black bullshyt. As if the victims aren't Black...oh wait their Black women so that different.
