Man kills woman after court hearing on child

A retired United States Navy man shot and killed his former girlfriend and her mother in a courthouse car park after a hearing at which he was granted access to his daughter, police said.

Michael Angelo Hill, 45, shot the women several times with a handgun yesterday then fled in his car, said police spokesman Don Aaron.

The couple’s three-year-old daughter was not present.

Authorities spent three hours calling day care centres until the child was found and placed in state custody.

Hill and the two women - whose names were not immediately released had attended the hearing.

Hill’s former girlfriend had custody of the child, and Hill complained that the mother was not cooperating on visitation.

Judge Betty Adams Green said she changed the visitation order to allow Hill to see his child on Friday afternoon and Saturday.

"I don’t know what went wrong after that," the judge said.

Aaron said Hill left the courtroom about 10 minutes before the women, and was waiting for them in the car park lot across the street, Aaron said.

Security chief Thomas Howard said the courthouse installed new metal detectors last year.

"It would be almost impossible for someone to get a gun inside," he said, adding that Hill "definitely did not bring a handgun in here".

The judge said there is always a potential for violence in domestic and juvenile cases.

"When you deal with issues that surround people’s children, and frankly, that are around money, feelings do run high," Green said.