Woman afraid to get order of protection?

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PHOENIX, May 16 (UPI) -- The Arizona woman allegedly killed by her white supremacist boyfriend in a murder-suicide may have been afraid to get an order of protection, officials say.

Police officers said they advised Lisa Mederos, 47, to get an order against J.T. Ready about two months before the killings, The Arizona Republic reported. Mederos filed a complaint in late February, saying Ready had assaulted her twice in seven months.

Investigators say Mederos and her family confronted Ready on May 2 to tell him they wanted him to move out of their home in Gilbert, a Phoenix suburb. He allegedly shot Mederos, her adult daughter, Amber, Amber's boyfriend and their toddler daughter before taking his own life.

Merri Tiseth of the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence said lethal violence is most likely when an abuse victim is trying to end a relationship. She said that may have made Mederos unwilling to get an order to force Ready out.

"She was probably afraid of the consequences," Tiseth said. "He was a scary person, and he had firearms. When a person has firearms the lethality rate goes through the roof."

Ready, a neo-Nazi, was the founder of a vigilante border group and had launched an exploratory committee to run for Pinal County sheriff.