What led up to murder-suicide at North Olmsted grocery store? 19 Investigates

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – 19 Investigates has uncovered new details about the man who fatally shot his ex-wife at a North Olmsted grocery store before turning the gun on himself.

Bernard Smith, 60, and Susan Petterson, 63, had been divorced for nearly 20 years before Sunday’s deadly shooting at Giant Eagle on Lorain Road, where police said Petterson was working as a cashier at the time that she was killed.

After 12 years of marriage, court records show Petterson filed for divorce in March 2004 and asked for a restraining order against Smith.

Smith then asked for restraining order against Petterson in a counter claim filed about two weeks later. according to court records.

Over the next few months, records show attorneys for Petterson and Smith went back and forth on requests for partial releases of the restraining orders.

“We don’t believe it was a very amicable divorce, and potentially what may have led up to this,” North Olmsted Police Chief Bob Wagner stated during a news conference on Sunday afternoon.

Petterson lived in Olmsted Township. The police department told 19 Investigates there was no history of officers being called to her home.

It does not appear that Smith, who lived in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood, had a criminal record or prior history of violence.

Cuyahoga County property records show he purchased his home in 2005 after the couple filed for divorce.

Smith’s home is about a 20 minute drive from the Giant Eagle in North Olmsted where Petterson had been an employee for nearly four years.

Detectives said Smith walked in to the grocery store around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday and, without saying a word, opened fire on Petterson.

After shooting the woman multiple times, police said Smith then used the 9mm handgun to fatally shoot himself.

Chief Wagner said there were 67 Giant Eagle employees and around 200 customers inside the grocery store at the time of the shooting.

Officers responded to the scene within a minute of receiving the emergency call. They immediately entered the store and found both Petterson and Smith on the ground, according to Wagner.

On Sunday, the mayor of North Olmsted, Nicole Dailey Jones, said the incident appeared to be a murder-suicide “and is being investigated as such.”

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office had not yet made an official ruling on the cause and manner of death for Petterson and Smith as of Tuesday afternoon.

Free counseling is available for Giant Eagle customers and employees, as well as residents of North Olmsted, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at North Olmsted City Hall.

On Friday, representatives from Cuyahoga County Witness Victim Services, Journey Center for Safety and Healing, Frontline Services and Legal Aid will be on site from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at North Olmsted City Hall to provide resources and support to the community.

Copyright 2023 WOIO. All rights reserved.