WINAMAC — A married couple in the process of separating are dead after a murder-suicide Monday morning in Winamac. Police say 40-year-old Jonathan Minix drove his vehicle into his wife's pickup truck and then fired at least five gunshots into the truck, killing 37-year-old Ella Minix in front of their two children.

Jonathan Minix then drove a few blocks away and shot himself, according to Jeff Heims, Winamac Police chief.

Heims said the couple's two children, a 10-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy, were released into the custody of their grandmother in Denham, about 15 miles north of Winamac, where police say the family is from originally.

Nearby construction workers saw the whole thing and dialed 911.

An hour or so before the shooting, Ella Minix had tried to file a protective order against her husband.

"She came in first thing this morning with her two children," recalled Nancy Nies of the Pulaski County Clerk's Office. "She was very upset, wanting to file a protective order. She was shaking, so we got the paperwork done and while she was filling it out she came running back into the clerk's office saying, 'He's here, he took my son.'"

That county clerk's office employee says she hit her panic button and called police. She couldn't believe it when she heard the news a few hours later that the woman's husband had shot and killed her.

Police say the couple were having problems recently. WSBT learned Jonathan Minix may have been involved with drugs.

Stay with WSBT.com for updates.