Standoff at bread store ends with two dead

(10/23/06 - JACINTO CITY, TX) -- Police ended a nearly two-hour standoff by shooting to death a man who entered a bread store in this town east of Houston and stabbed his estranged wife to death Monday, a Houston police spokeswoman said. The woman worked at the store.

The man tried to use his wife's body to shield himself from police and pointed a gun at officials, said Sgt. Michelle Sandoval of the Houston Police Department, which was called in to help.

She said that Houston police would be handling the death of the man and that Jacinto City would be handing the death of the woman.

At about 5:30 p.m., Mohammad Rafi, 27, entered the Mrs Baird's store where his estranged wife worked.

Police did not immediately release the woman's name. But in a statement, Fort Worth-based Mrs Baird's Bakeries offered condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Tiffany Rafi, an employee who had worked for Mrs Baird's for the last three years and was killed Monday.

Officers had been dispatched to the store several times on domestic dispute calls, Jacinto Police Chief Joe Ayala said. He said that as recently as last month, Rafi had violated a restraining order by visiting his wife.

Lorenzo Guzman, who worked with Rafi's wife, told the Houston Chronicle that at least two employees and three customers were in the store when Rafi entered through the back door with a knife.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

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