Lebanon man kills wife, then self; mother-in-law survives multiple gunshots

Editor’s note: This story was originally published Sept. 10, 2005

Police said a Lebanon man took a cigarette break during the process of fatally shooting his ex-wife, firing multiple shots into her mother and then taking his own life with his gun Thursday night.

Don Fleming, 63, was the shooter, police said. His ex-wife, Peggy Fleming, 47, and her mother, Dorothy Watson, 79, were his victims. Peggy Fleming was pronounced dead at the scene.

Watson was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville where she was in critical condition Friday.

Lebanon Police Chief Douglas Lebert said the Police Department received a call reporting the gunshots at 9:19 p.m.

Two minutes later, when police arrived at 26 Harmon Dr. where the couple lived while they were married, they saw Don Fleming walking around the house with a gun in his hand. They heard one shot while they were waiting for assistance from police from Mascoutah and Shiloh.

Lebert said it appears that Fleming fired one round into the floor, reloaded his shotgun, then discharged a second round into the floor that ricocheted and struck Peggy Fleming in the neck.

“We don’t believe that was the fatal shot,” Lebert said.

“Fleming then pulled out a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol and shot his mother-in-law several times, and went outside and smoked a cigarette. Then Fleming went back inside and shot Peggy Fleming again,” Lebert said.

Police believe the second bullet wound Fleming took was the fatal shot. At that point, the other officers arrived, and as police were making entry to the home, Fleming shot himself, Lebert said.

Peggy Fleming’s 25-year-old daughter was able to get out of the house without being harmed, Lebert said.

Lebert said police had responded to several domestic calls at the house within the last three to four months.

The couple had recently divorced, and the house on Harmon Drive was for sale.

Peggy Fleming had found an apartment in St. Louis and was living there. She had come back to the house with her mother and daughter to get her things, Lebert said. Police said Don Fleming, who no longer resided at the house, went there after finding out his ex-wife was there.

Peggy Fleming went to the Lebanon Police Department on Monday to complain about Don Fleming stalking her in St. Louis.

“We told her she needed to make a report with the St. Louis Police Department. We also instructed her how to get an order of protection. We do not know whether she followed through with any of it, though,” Lebert said.

Lebert said he believed both Don Fleming and Peggy Fleming had children, but none together.

This story was originally published May 25, 2018 at 10:41 AM with the headline "Lebanon man kills wife, then self; mother-in-law survives multiple gunshots."