Husband fatally shoots wife near Southlake intersection, police say

Linda Martin and her husband visited an attorney about their pending divorce Tuesday afternoon.

They each left the attorney’s office in separate vehicles.

But she never made it to her Flower Mound home.

Linda Martin, 55, died while in surgery Tuesday night, several hours after she was shot near a Southlake intersection, police said Wednesday.

Her husband, Kenneth Martin, 52, of Flower Mound, was arrested at the scene without incident, Southlake police spokeswoman Kim Leach said.

The couple, married for 20 years, stopped living together in October 2015, according to Tarrant County court documents. The couple did not have any children. She filed for divorce on Nov. 4, 2015, but it was later dismissed on Nov. 24, 2015 because it was filed in the wrong county.

Kenneth Martin then filed for divorce in Denton County on Nov. 24, 2015, and she filed a counter-petition the next day, according to Denton County county records.

The shooting occurred near Central Avenue and Farm Road 1709 sometime before 5:30 p.m., police said. Linda Martin died at 10:24 p.m. at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Grapevine, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website.

Kenneth Martin is accused of shooting his wife once in the head.

Investigators believe he drove up behind his wife, got out of his vehicle and walked up to his wife’s vehicle. He remained at the scene after the shooting, police said. A handgun was recovered nearby, police said.

Martin was in the Keller Jail Wednesday, awaiting arraignment. He is expected to be charged with murder.

Linda Martin will be remembered as a “unique, outgoing, likeable” person, said Debbie Patterson, owner of Realty Executives DFW, where Linda Martin worked.

“She was a really wonderful person who cared about many issues, an activist in all regards,” Patterson said. “She took care of people, whether she knew them or not.”

Patterson called Martin’s death “extremely unfortunate and tragic,” and is sad to see that she wasn’t able to get away from a domestic violence situation.

“She was trying to get out of a situation that wasn’t healthy for her and she wasn’t able to do it in time,” Patterson said.

Linda Martin had two children from a previous marriage, according to Tarrant County court records.

In court documents, Linda Martin had filed for divorce because the “marriage has become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities.”

But the couple were together in a neighborhood squabble when they lived in Euless in 2004. Then Euless homeowners Linda Martin and her husband battled with the Heritage Place Homeowners Association for the right to fly an American flag at their home.

In the end, Linda and Kenny Martin got the homeowners association to change their policy and also got association members voted off the board.

Linda Martin filed for a protective order in March, according to Denton county court documents.

Dylan Bradley: 817-390-7984, @dbradley1220; Domingo Ramirez Jr.: 817-390-7763, @mingoramirezjr

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 7:41 AM with the headline "Husband fatally shoots wife near Southlake intersection, police say."