Ind. bus slaying victim had filed protective order against man who allegedly fatally shot her

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – A northern Indiana woman who was pulled off of a city bus and fatally shot along a busy street had recently obtained a protective order against her ex-boyfriend — the man police say killed her.

Court documents show that Jacqueline Bouvier Hardy, 49, had filed for a protective order Tuesday against Kenneth Knight, but the Journal Gazette reported (http://bit.ly/15uGtb1 ) it did not appear Knight had been served with a copy.

Police said Hardy was fatally shot by Knight about 8 a.m. Wednesday along a busy street in Fort Wayne. A school official said children waiting at school bus stops were among the witnesses to Hardy's slaying.

Fort Wayne police snipers fatally shot Knight, 45, Wednesday afternoon after he held a 3-year-old boy hostage in a nearby home following Hardy's killing. Knight was not related to the child, who was unharmed in the assault.

Police spokeswoman Raquel Foster said Knight knew the people who lived at the home where he held the boy.

Foster said that a warrant had been issued Tuesday for Knight for a parole violation.

The Indiana Department of Correction's website shows Knight was released from prison about a year ago after serving a 10-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

Foster confirmed that Knight was Hardy's ex-boyfriend and that she had recently obtained a protective order against him. She said police have reviewed video and audio recordings obtained from the Citilink bus Knight and Hardy had been riding on, seated together, before he pulled her off and shot her.

"There wasn't a disturbance before that. It was a scheduled stop at that intersection and they came to a stop, he pulled her off the bus and he had a firearm — a shotgun — and he shot her," she said, adding that Knight had pulled the shotgun out of a bag he was carrying.

Passengers on the bus said Hardy was a regular passenger on that bus and they had often seen Knight riding with her on the bus.

"They said, 'That's her boyfriend, he's always with her,'" she said. "But obviously if she had sought a protective order there was some reason for that."

Hardy was a student at Ravenscroft Beauty College in Fort Wayne.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net