News Item: Two wounded in marriage counseling shooting

MAN & WIFE SHOOT EACH OTHER AT MARRIAGE COUNSELING CALL IT the least successful marriage counseling session of all time -- Michael and Bonnie Martin both pulled out guns and shot each other! When the smoke cleared, Bonnie was lying on the floor with a bullet hole in her stomach. Her husband had bullet wounds on his face and shoulder. And the terrified marriage counselor was hiding behind a couch. "Talk about a counseling session -- it was more like the gunfight at the OK Corral!" Michael's attorney Michael Idiart said. Both Bonnie and Michael have now recovered. And a year later, incredibly, they say they're still very much in love! Bonnie, 36, wed Michael, a 43-year-old truck driver, when she was just 18. They had three children. But the Fresno, Calif., couple's life together was anything but blissful. Michael was jailed six times for spousal abuse and Bonnie filed for divorce three times, then changed her mind. Michael had "started doing drugs and drinking heavily," Bonnie said. "And he began carrying a gun." Bonnie took the teenage children and moved out. "After I left him, he told me he was going to kill himself -- and me. "I started carrying a gun." Bonnie got Michael to agree to attend a marriage counseling session at St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Fresno, with Russell Willingham of New Carriages Marriage Services. She showed up for the session, and waited in a small office with the counselor. "Michael comes bursting into the room," Bonnie recalled. "He had a bottle of beer in his hand. I couldn't see his gun, but I knew he had it. He said my mom had just called the police on him and he'd been in a high speed chase. He was really mad. "He was pacing back and forth. He got to the corner and stopped. He was cussing and yelling and then he said: 'There's going to be trouble.' "I thought he was going to go for his gun and shoot me, so I pulled my gun out of my purse and shot him. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. I fired again. The bullet nicked the side of his face." Michael pulled his gun out of his waistband and fired four shots. One bullet hit Bonnie in the stomach, knocking her to the floor. The marriage counselor dove for cover behind the couch. "I screamed at Michael: 'You shot me. I'm going to die,'" said Bonnie. "Michael knelt down beside me and held me in his arms. He was saying: 'I love you, Bonnie. You're going to make it.' "I was angry because the blood from the wound on his face was dripping onto my hair. I said: 'Get off me!' " Bonnie and Michael were rushed to the hospital -- in separate ambulances. Michael was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and spousal abuse. "The reason he was charged and not Bonnie is that the prosecution maintains he shot her first, which we dispute," said Michael's attorney. Michael was sentenced to eight years in prison. But Bonnie vows to stand by her man. "People might think I'm a fool, but I'll be there for him when he gets out. I love him. He's my husband -- and I want him back."

I'm always pretty slow - is this a joke or a true story????

It does sound like one of those stories that get passed around (particularly on the web) and go by the term "urban myths." (The last one I saw was about a guy who supposedly had his kidneys hijacked at a party.) The people who spread them always claim they're true stories (no offense, cuckold, but schizzo is probably right to be suspicious of the story's veracity - where did you get this, anyway?)That said, it's still a funny story. And I thought couples counseling sessions with MY W were bad! Maybe this will start a new trend called "gun therapy"! Regards and blessings,--Wex

gun therapy....I guess, this makes our counseling sessions termed "tame!!!!" ROFLMAO

I saw this story reported on our local television news and read it in the newspaper about two years ago, so there must be some truth in it.It does make our first counseling session seem quite uneventful in comparison!Peppermint