Officer Brian Vieau, Detroit Police Department

February 08, 2007: Tracy L. Vieau, Murdered By Her Ex-Husband, Officer Brian Vieau of the Detroit Police Department

VIDEO: Police Officer Dead; Wife Shot To Deathhttp://www.clickondetroit.com/news/10971308/detail.html

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911 Call Released In Murder-Suicide
POSTED: 8:00 am EST February 9, 2007
UPDATED: 1:28 pm EST February 9, 2007
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/10971308/detail.html
BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Brownstown Township police are investigating a shooting that left a Detroit police officer and his estranged wife dead.

It happened Thursday around 7:13 p.m.

Detroit police officer Brian R. Vieau, 38, was found dead on the living room floor and the body of his estranged wife, Tracy L. Vieau, 40, was found dead against the front door of the residence, according to police. Brian Vieau, who was apparently distraught over their impending divorce, was at his residence waiting for his wife to pickup their two children so he could go to work, according to police.

According to Chief of Police Daniel J. Grant, once she entered the residence, he fired four shots at her with a .40 caliber pistol striking her three times when she collapsed at the front door. He then made a 911 call to police and prior to their arrival he turned the gun on himself.

The couple had two children, ages 3 and 6.

The children were home at the time. They were upstairs and unharmed. They are now living with relatives.

Police said a suicide note was found in the home on Red Cedar Court.

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Officer allegedly kills wife, self in Brownstown
Monroenews.com, MI - 4 hours ago
By: Evening News staff story
updated February 09. 2007 11:55AM
http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070209/NEWS01/102090053/-1/NEWS

BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP - A Detroit police officer who reportedly shot his wife to death called 911 to report the domestic violence before turning the gun on himself while the couple's children were upstairs.

Brownstown Township Police Chief Dan Grant identified the officer as Brian Vieau, 38, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. His estranged wife, Tracy Vieau, 40, who apparently was from the Gibraltar area, was found against the door of the home on Red Cedar Dr. She was shot three times.

Chief Grant said Officer Vieau was found in his police uniform lying on the living room floor. His .40-caliber service pistol, which he used in the shooting, was lying at his feet. The couple's two boys, ages 6 and 3, were unharmed when police found them upstairs. They apparently did not witness the shooting.

Chief Grant said the couple had been married about 13 years and were in the process of a divorce. She had moved out of the two-story home near Gibraltar Rd. and I-75 several months ago.

Officer Vieau had been distraught over the pending divorce, Chief Grant said. Around 7:15 p.m. Thursday Ms. Vieau arrived at the home to pick up the boys so Officer Vieau could go to work.
Chief Grant said the officer used his service weapon and fired four times, striking Ms. Vieau once in the back and twice in the chest. He then called 911 to report a domestic incident in progress with shots fired.

"Prior to our arrival he turned the gun on himself," Chief Grant said.

Brownstown Township Clerk Sherry Berecz-Burton said local authorities were stunned by news of the shooting.

She said the incident was the buzz at the township hall today.

"It's terrible," Mrs. Berecz-Burton said. "I only heard bits and pieces, (but) I feel so bad for the families and children involved.

Brownstown police apparently were investigating a second shooting in their jurisdiction Thursday night, but there was no indication the two incidents were related.

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Police: Officer kills wife, self in home with kids upstairs
2/9/2007, 1:46 p.m. ET
MLive.com, MI - The Associated Press
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/base/news41/117103504680350.xml&storylist=mibusiness
BROWNSTOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — An off-duty Detroit police officer shot and killed his estranged wife with a department-issued handgun before taking his own life, all while their two children were in the home, police said.

The boys of Brian and Tracy Vieau were in an upstairs bedroom, watching cartoons and did not witness the shootings or the aftermath, Brownstown Township Police Chief Daniel Grant told The Detroit News. The oldest boy is 6.

"Officers went up and found them with the door closed," Grant said. "They had to carry them past Momma and Dad at the bottom of the stairs, but they covered their heads. We got them out of there without seeing anything."

Grant told WDIV-TV the 38-year-old police officer shot his 40-year-old wife Thursday evening. The couple were planning to divorce.

Township police responded at 7:13 p.m. to a 911 call made by Brian Vieau, informing a dispatcher there was a domestic argument in progress with shots fired.

Tracy Vieau had moved out of the couple's home about 15 miles southwest of Detroit, but brought their two sons to the house each evening because Brian Vieau worked nights, Grant said.

Brian Vieau typed a suicide note on a home computer and left the document on the screen. In it, he described his unhappiness with the breakup of his marriage, Grant said.

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OFFICER BRIAN VIEAU'S PARTNER, OFFICER GARY ALLEN STEELE, ONE YEAR LATER:ARRESTED ON SEVEN FELONY COUNTS IN MARCH 04, 2008 DV.

DURING PRELIMINARY HEARING, OFFICER STEELE'S VICTIM TESTIFIED TO THE DV ATTACK: "...he began choking her again and made several references to his former police partner, Brian Vieau, who committed suicide after killing his estranged wife, Tracy Vieau, in February 2007. "He said 'Now I know why Brian did what he did.'"

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON OFFICER GARY STEELE CAN BE FOUND AT: http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/2008/03/officer-gary-steele-detroit-pd-030408.html

Judge refuses to drop charges in torture case

By TIFFANY L. PARKS OBSERVER Staff Writer
April 13, 2008
http://hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080413/NEWS03/804130510/1020/NEWS03

As his ex-girlfriend testified about the day he allegedly assaulted her with a baseball bat and fired a gun near her head, Gary Allen Steele sat with his arms crossed and shook his head.

"Pow. Pow. Pow," Kimberly Ann Golematis said from the witness stand Friday morning at 35th District Court when describing the moment Steele pulled out his revolver and fired the weapon.
Looking directly at Steele, a suspended Detroit police officer, Golematis held her right hand like a gun and testified that he told her, "I will (expletive) kill you."

Steele, 42, has been bound over on seven charges stemming from the March 4 incident. In addition to rejecting the defense's claim that the charges of torture, assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to do great bodily harm were inappropriate, Judge Ronald W. Lowe denied the request to lower Steele's $5 million bond.

"Until this shakes out, (Golematis) is entitled to walk the Earth in no fear of him," he said, adding that he fears for the Canton woman's safety because she's the main thing standing between Steele and his freedom.

Lowe said Steele's occupation provided an additional element to his refusal to lower bond.
"Lawyers, judges and cops (should be) held to a higher standard," he said. "She has testified that he crossed the line."

Golematis testified that she and Steele had ended their six-month relationship when he stopped by her Glengarry subdivision home March 4 to retrieve the last of his items.

"I was not an angel by any means," she said. "I wasn't gift wrapping his stuff."

With their interaction already tense, Golematis said Steele became violent when he was preparing to leave and she mentioned his Santa Claus statue that was in her garage.

"I said don't forget Santa," she said, adding that he then told her to keep it.

Upon saying that she didn't want it, Golematis kicked the item and said Steele responded by "freaking out."

He supposedly hit her left leg with a baseball bat and then began choking her. When she fell to the ground, Golematis said she landed on the steps in the garage that led to her kitchen.

"Gary Steele got on top of me and straddled me with his weight," she said, adding that he began choking her again and made several references to his former police partner, Brian Vieau, who committed suicide after killing his estranged wife, Tracy Vieau, in February 2007. "He said 'Now I know why Brian did what he did.'"

Golematis said Steele fired three shots into the garage steps near the left side of her head. After placing the gun inside her mouth and to her head, Golematis said Steele appeared to "snap" back to reality when she told him that he was hurting her.

"He said 'I love you. I just love you so much. I would do anything for us.'" Golematis testified, adding that Steele began stroking her hair and saying he should go into the home's basement to see if anything was damaged by the gunshots.

Golematis said she asked Steele to leave and then she called Canton Police.

Upon questioning Golematis, Steele's attorney, David Lee, questioned her reluctance to stay in her township home due to the gunshot holes and suggested that a gun had previously been fired in her home. Golematis denied owning a gun and said there were no other gunshot holes at her residence.

At one point during the cross examination, Lowe scolded Golematis for offering Lee a flippant answer.

Julie Cook, Golematis' friend of 10 years, testified that the alleged attack is "pretty much all that (Golematis) talks about." Cook said Golematis is afraid of retaliation from other police officers and lives in a state of paranoia.

After Cook's testimony, Lee argued that the charges be reduced and that Steele's bond be reduced to $100,000. He said Steele, who has been in custody for more than 40 days, has no evidence of past abuse and has had sufficient "cooling time" and isn't a danger to anyone.

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Ehlfeldt defended all the charges as relevant and balked at the bond suggested by the defense.

In keeping the bond at its current amount, Lowe said he has "no doubt in my mind" that Golematis is afraid of Steele.

"He's a good person who made a really bad choice," Golematis said.

Steele is scheduled to be arraigned in Third Circuit Court on April 25.
tlparks@hometownlife.com (734) 459-2700

The charges against Gary Steele
Torture, a felony punishable up to life in prison.

Assault with intent to murder, a felony punishable up to life in prison.

Assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, a 10-year felony.

Two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, four-year felonies.

Weapon/firearm discharge in or at a building, a four-year felony.

Weapons-felony firearm, punishable up to two years

[MI POLICE OFFICER INVOLVED PERPETRATED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LAW ENFORCEMENT MURDER SUICIDE]