He wasn't allowed to have a gun, but he killed his York County girlfriend, fired at police

Jessica Mellinger tried to get away from John Snyder. But Snyder followed her outside with a shotgun, fatally shot her, and dragged her inside a York Township home.

When police officers showed up, Snyder fired at them.

After several hours on a snowy and freezing January night in 2014, police entered and found that the 24-year-old Snyder had shot and killed himself.

Mellinger was a Red Lion graduate, a mail carrier, and someone who, friends say, loved the outdoors, line dancing and anything with a motor. 

She was one of many people shot to death in York County in recent years by someone who wasn't supposed to have a gun.

A YDR analysis of 38 gun homicides from 2013 through 2016 found that in at least 21 cases, one or more of the alleged or convicted assailants was not allowed to possess a gun under federal or state law.  

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More:About the YDR analyis of illegal guns

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In three of those cases, a man killed a woman and himself.

Groups like the Violence Policy Center point to these types of murder-suicides as examples of why it's necessary to aggressively enforce bans on firearm possession. 

Meanwhile, lawmakers in some states have focused on a different way to protect domestic abuse victims: Shorten the waiting period for an alleged victim to get a gun permit after obtaining an order of protection.

Three York County murder-suicides show different holes in laws and enforcement.

One man, Monees Ansari, illegally obtained a gun that police traced back to Texas. But police could not find the last owner.

Another man, Scott Hoke, was not ordered to give up his guns despite being covered by federal bans.

Snyder was also covered by a federal ban. But police say he broke into a secured cabinet and stole a shotgun.

Last year, 102 victims were killed in domestic-violence related incidents statewide, according to an annual report from the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The majority of time, the victim was shot to death.

Cari Stailey, 32, was an animal lover who adopted rescue dogs. She was “a giving, lovely person with a huge heart,” according to the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance.

The Red Land High School graduate was killed on Oct. 5, 2014. Her obituary described her as a former cheerleader and coach, who was an "outgoing person, easy to love" and "the glue of her family."

Her killer, the 30-year-old Ansari, had been banned from possessing a gun for years.

In 2005, another woman, who lived in California, obtained a restraining order against him. He then threatened her in emails, according to a federal criminal complaint.

Later, he traveled from Pennsylvania to California and showed up in her neighborhood with a machete and a box cutter, according to the complaint.

Ansari pleaded guilty to traveling across state lines to violate a protection order, a felony. That conviction meant he would never be allowed to buy or possess a gun under federal law. 

But years later, he used a .45-caliber handgun to kill Stailey and himself on the 500 block of Benyou Lane in Fairview Township.

Stailey and Ansari had known each other years earlier and recently reconnected, according to police. The nature of their relationship wasn't clear.

It isn't clear who was responsible for providing Ansari with the gun, said Fairview Township Police Chief Jason Loper.

The gun had not been entered into a database as stolen.

Police traced the gun to Texas, but police departments there and in another state could not find the man believed to be the last owner.

"We kind of ran into a dead end," Loper said.

Nine states require gun owners to report lost firearms and stolen firearms, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Texas and Pennsylvania don't.

In 2013, a research agency for the Pennsylvania General Assembly recommended passing such a reporting requirement, saying it would allow "police to more accurately trace how these weapons come to be in illegal hands" and hopefully lead to prosecution for "those who participate in illegal markets."

State Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Montgomery County, introduced such a bill in March 2017.

It would give gun owners 72 hours from when they discover the items missing to report the loss or theft of a firearm to law enforcement. The legislation, House Bill 832, hasn't come up for any votes yet.

In July 2016, Susan Hoke accused her husband of pulling her hair, grabbing her by the head and trying to slam her into a picnic table.

Related:She was killed after trusting Pa.'s system

Hoke, a grandmother, obtained a final protection-from-abuse order against Scott Hoke. Her estranged husband also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence against her. Both of those things meant it was illegal for him to possess a gun.

But family members of Susan and Scott said guns were not taken from him.

Late one night in September 2016, Scott Hoke showed up at the Jackson Township home where the two once lived. He fatally shot Susan, threatened to shoot their 17-year-old daughter, and then killed himself. When police arrived, a handgun was still in Scott’s grip.

In December 2016, Northern York County Regional Police Chief Mark Bentzel said he believed Scott Hoke used his own gun in the shootings, and Bentzel was “99 percent sure” he didn’t purchase the gun after a protection-from-abuse order. But he declined to provide additional details.

More:Pa. abuser fined, not jailed. Then he killed his wife and son.

More:Two red states passed this gun restriction. Will Pa.?

More:Victim advocates now run York County's PFA office

Despite the federal ban that comes with a final PFA order against a defendant, in Pennsylvania, judges have discretion over whether to order defendants to give up guns. In Susan Hoke's PFA case, she didn't ask for that to happen and judges didn't order it.

State Sen. Tom Killion, R-Delaware County, wants to make firearms relinquishment required after all final PFA orders. His proposal, Senate Bill 501, hasn't come up for any votes yet. 

Snyder was not allowed to possess a gun under federal law, because of a first-degree misdemeanor conviction for DUI.

The DUI conviction dated back to one night in January 2012, when Snyder smoked marijuana, had some drinks at a bar, and then drove, according to a criminal complaint. 

Four months later, Snyder pleaded guilty to what court documents described as his second DUI. Penalties for DUI vary depending on someone's blood alcohol level or if a controlled substance was involved.

Dauphin County attorney Justin McShane, whose firm specializes in DUI and gun rights cases, said many people aren't aware of the gun ban that comes with certain DUI convictions.

If someone pleads guilty to a DUI charge that could send them to prison for more than two years, even if their sentence is less than that, they are covered by a federal firearms ban.

“A common misconception is that people think that if they did not do a year or more in jail, then they are ok,” McShane wrote in 2012. “This is wrong. Totally wrong.”

Snyder’s obituary described him as a machine operator. It said anything in the outdoors was his passion, including hunting.

At the time of the shooting death, Snyder was under court supervision.

The probation department was aware that he lived in the same home where firearms were kept, according to York Area Regional Police Chief Timothy L. Damon. The probation department required that guns be locked up, and Damon said they were.

But Snyder broke into a locked wooden cabinet and took a shotgun.

York County still allows some people under court supervision to live in a home with guns. 

Still, people under court supervision are not allowed to possess, control or use firearms, said April Billet-Barclay, director of probation services. So the guns have to be locked up.

The county will send probation and parole officers into homes for unannounced visits. They wear body armor, and they search a home to check that people are complying with the rules.

And in some cases, people under court supervision can't live on the same property as guns. 

That means family members who haven't committed any crimes will face this type of choice: Their child can stay. Or their guns cans stay. 

"This is sometimes an incredibly unpopular condition," said Billet-Barclay.