Man allegedly kidnapped wife at gunpoint, demanded she lift restraining order
BATON ROUGE - A man is accused of ambushing his estranged wife at her apartment and then threatening to kill her when she refused to take back the protective order against him.
The East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office said Michael Kinberger, 43, was arrested Tuesday after leading law enforcement on a foot chase. Deputies said the situation began Tuesday afternoon at his wife's apartment along Jefferson Highway.
According to arrest documents, the victim messaged Kinberger earlier that morning saying she filed a restraining order against him. The victim said she's married to Kinberger, but the two separated in January and had been living apart since then.
That same day, the victim got a text from Kinberger asking her to check her vehicle for his wallet. When she stepped outside, she said her husband was waiting for her with a handgun.
The woman said Kinberger then forced her back up the staircase to her apartment at gunpoint and demanded she remove the protective order. When she told him she had no intention of lifting the order, he allegedly fired a shot into the stairway right below her.
The report said Kinberger then forced his wife into her vehicle and told her to drive to the courthouse in downtown Baton Rouge. However, she said Kinberger first had her drive to where he parked his vehicle, along Wenwood Drive, in case law enforcement was looking for her Jeep.
Once they reached his car, the victim said Kinberger threatened to shoot her "dead in the street" if she called for help.
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When Kinberger stepped out of his wife's vehicle, she hit the gas trying to escape and crashed into a drainage ditch. The victim stepped out from the wreck and flagged someone down for help while Kinberger ran away.
Deputies soon spotted Kinberger walking away from his vehicle along Corporate Boulevard, and he was captured after a foot chase through the area.
Investigators later found a shell casing and a bullet hole in the stairway where the victim claimed Kinberger fired the gun.
Kinberger was booked into the parish jail overnight on charges including aggravated kidnapping and attempted murder. The sheriff's office said Wednesday he was moved to a hospital after he tried to hang himself in his cell that morning.