A US man handed his estranged wife a bouquet of flowers before shooting her fatally in the face at the pharmacy where she worked.
Alexander Figuero, 38, shot himself soon after he killed Guimmia Villa, 32, inside the chemist in Astoria, Queens, the New York Post reports.
Police found Figuero dead in his apartment later on Thursday with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and a long letter he wrote confessing his crimes.
The couple, who had two sons together aged nine and six, split up two years ago and were in the middle of a divorce.
Ms Villa had taken out at least two protection orders against Figuero, who her sister described as angry and desperate to get back into a relationship with his ex.
"He beat her up just a week-and-a-half ago at her job and told her he would kill her if she didn't go back with him," Ms Villa's sister Yajaira, 28, told the Post.
"He was angry she had rejected him," she said.
Ms Villa sent her sister a text message saying she was frightened because her eldest son Alexander was calling his father and giving him information about her.
"He [Figuero] says he wants to see the kids in the morning and if he doesn't, something's going to happen," Ms Villa said in the message.
Ms Villa, who underwent two kidney transplants in the past 10 years, went to court on Tuesday to renew an order of protection against her Figuero.
But on Thursday Figuero walked into the shop where she was working on 34th Avenue at around 3.40pm and shot her dead at the counter.
The couple had a history of run-ins with police due to their violent relationship and a neighbour recalled once seeing Figuero kicking the door of Ms Villa's mother's apartment and demanded to see his children.
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