Gunman trailed ex-wife here from Wisconsin

When Ogum Jacob Lomoro's ex-wife moved from Madison, Wis., to the Northwest six years ago, she did so because it was one of the farthest places on a map away from her ex-husband, who — according to her lawyer and a relative — had beaten, abused and threatened to kill her.

But last summer, Lomoro, 63, moved to Everett to be closer to his children, and he began stalking his ex-wife, said Linda Passey, the woman's lawyer.

On Monday, Lomoro confronted his ex-wife with a gun at an Everett mini-mart, shot at her and then fatally shot himself.

Lomoro and his ex-wife were fighting over custody of their three teenage children, Passey said. They have one adult child.

Lomoro had lost a court battle Thursday, when a Snohomish County Superior Court commissioner rejected his parenting plan and accepted his ex-wife's, according to court papers.

Lomoro became upset at the hearing when he learned he had to pay for a therapist who would dictate the terms of contact between Lomoro and his children, Passey said. He thought his ex-wife should share the cost, she said.

"At the courthouse that seemed to be the issue; he didn't want to foot the bill, and that's what aggravated him as far as I could tell," Passey said.

The commissioner said in court documents that Lomoro had not seen his children for six years and had not participated in court-ordered sessions with a psychologist.

A relative said the court's refusal to give Lomoro more time with his children upset him.

"He really loved the kids so much. He moved here to help them with their education," said Gabriel Tomsah of Federal Way. Tomsah said he was from the same tribe in Sudan as Lomoro and his ex-wife.

Lomoro and his then-wife moved to Wisconsin in 1989 as refugees from a civil war in Sudan, according to court documents. Lomoro held degrees in sociology from a university in Sudan and got his doctorate in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2001.

His ex-wife said in court papers that she has the equivalent of a third-grade education, and she didn't take courses in English as a second language until after the couple divorced in 1998, Passey said.

Some of the difficulties she had dealing with abuse were cultural, Passey said.

"She didn't know that there were laws that prevented [domestic abuse] until after the divorce. In their culture, there weren't laws that prevented it," Passey said.

In Sudan, Lomoro had a second wife, with whom he had a child, according to court documents. He lived with that child in Everett, the documents said.

After Monday's shooting, Passey said the ex-wife is doing OK but has mixed emotions. She hopes her children will know that their father loved them.

"It's not the way she wanted anything to play out," Passey said.

Brian Alexander: 425-745-7845 or balexander@seattletimes.com. Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com.