Sharpshooter suspect kills himself, police say

updated 6:51 a.m. ET July 18, 2007

LARAMIE, Wyo. - A military sharpshooter accused of killing his estranged wife as she sang at a bar died Tuesday night after being found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, police said.

Wyoming Army National Guardsman David Munis was found by a search team at about 7:45 p.m. after police received an anonymous call from a man who spotted Munis at a small camping trailer in a remote area about 15 miles north of Laramie and about five miles outside the search area, Albany County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Garcia said.

He had shot himself in the chest with a high-power rifle, Garcia said.

Munis, 36, was flown to a hospital and pronounced dead at 8:01 p.m., Garcia said.

“I’m glad it’s over,” the Laramie Boomerang quoted Garcia as saying. “The people in the community can now feel at rest, and the people in Roger’s Canyon can feel more at ease.”

Murdered on stage
Munis’ estranged wife, Robin Munis, 40, was singing with a classic-rock and country group at the Old Chicago restaurant and bar early Saturday when a bullet pierced a plate glass door and hit her in the head, killing her.

About 75 heavily armed officers had been searching for Munis in a canyon area near where his pickup was spotted late Monday.

Munis apparently shot himself as searchers closed in on him, Cheyenne police Lt. Mark Munari said.

Witnesses at the hospital where Munis was taken said they saw a body covered in a tarp being taken out of a helicopter.

“We were standing outside, and we saw a helicopter come in pretty fast and land,” said Evan Maurer, who was helping to install networking and telephone lines at the emergency room. “About eight guys in fatigues, looked like National Guardsman or Army, jumped out with M-16s.”

“They grabbed a body out of the copter and started carrying it,” Maurer said.

Munis was charged with first-degree murder earlier Tuesday.

The Munises were recently separated, and Robin Munis had contacted police just hours before the shooting to complain that he was making harassing calls to her cell phone.

Investigators said it was unclear whether the shot that killed her came from the restaurant parking lot, about 25 yards away, or from an open green space, roughly 100 yards off.

Witnesses told police that a pickup truck matching the one owned by David Munis was seen leaving the scene.

'A near-confession'
A handwritten note of about six pages, addressed to “Everyone,” was found at Munis’ home, police said Tuesday. “I’m calling it a near-confession,” Cheyenne police Capt. Jeff Schulz said. “He does not come out and say, ‘I did it.”’ The police spokesman would not give details.

On Monday night, Munis’ truck was found in rugged mountains north of Laramie, about 50 miles west of Cheyenne. Police said they believed that Munis, a devoted hunter and outdoorsman, fled into terrain where his training and experience could give him the advantage.

Munis has been a member of the Wyoming Army National Guard since 2003, was previously in the Army and was a 2001 graduate of the Army Sniper School at Fort Benning, Ga., according to the National Guard.

“Apprehending a man with that kind of sniper skill and the weaponry he has available to him is an extremely dangerous type of proposition,” Schulz said earlier.

Munis was assigned to an infantry regiment at Ft. Campbell, Ky., according to Lt. Col. Kevin V. Arata, public affairs officer with the U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Arata said he couldn’t determine from Munis’ military records if he was ever in combat.

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