Posted on 09/25/2010 9:52:53 PM PDT by SmithL
SANTA CRUZ -- Two well-known Westside Santa Cruz residents were killed in a murder-suicide in a residential neighborhood off Soquel Drive late Thursday, authorities reported.
Gayle Mozee-Baum, 54, shot and killed her estranged husband, James "Jimmy" Baum, 61, around 11:15 p.m., then turned the gun on herself, the Sheriff's Office reported.
Sheriff's Sgt. Ian Patrick called the deaths "a tragic event."
Friends were taken aback at the news.
"Jimmy was just kind-hearted. He was a gentleman," said Steve Robertson, a drummer from Aptos who knew Baum for 25 years. "Gayle was a very nice person. Everybody is just shocked by the whole thing. The sadness of it is just overwhelming."
Baum was a respected jazz drummer who worked at Ace Hardware on the Westside for several years but recently quit to drive a cab for Santa Cruz Taxi. He had separated from his wife a few months ago and moved to a home on Lucca Lane, a small street off of Soquel Drive that parallels Dover Drive, about a half-mile east of Dominican Hospital.
Mozee-Baum, who oversaw a legal team of 200 for the international law firm Townsend & Townsend, won the Democrat of the Year award from the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party in 2009.
Thursday night, she went to Baum's home to confront him. The couple was arguing outside when Mozee-Baum shot her husband before using the handgun on herself, according to Patrick.
He died at the scene. She suffered mortal Advertisement injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital, Patrick reported.
The neighborhood includes single-family homes and, across the street, a large apartment complex. There also is a senior living community in the area and a smattering of businesses along Soquel Drive. The old drive-in and the hospital are to the west of the scene; 41st Avenue is to the east.
Detectives believe Mozee-Baum acted alone. The gun was found at the scene, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The fatal shooting is the 12th homicide in the county this year. Three other violent deaths have been related to domestic violence.
"The details of their conversation and Gayle's motive for murdering James are still under investigation," Patrick said in a prepared statement.
County records show the federal Internal Revenue Service filed a lien on the couple's assets in June but those documents were unavailable Friday because county employees were furloughed. Friends said they knew the couple had separated but didn't know the extent of the problems.
"I guess she was having a harder time accepting it than any of us knew," Robertson said. "He would make short asides to the fact that things weren't great with Gayle but never got too deep into it."
News of the double-shooting trickled through the Santa Cruz music community Friday.
"It's kind of unbelievable," said David O'Connor, a local guitarist who met Baum 35 years ago.
O'Connor and Baum played together in a band named "Wave" at Shadowbrook for three years and had gigs at the old Cooper House with Don McCaslin before Baum set his drumsticks aside to raise his children with Mozee-Baum. The couple is survived by three adult sons, Cameron, Tjader and Parker.
Baum was a dedicated father and husband, friends said. He had recently started to play again.
"He was doing well, it seemed like," Robertson said.
Friends recalled Baum as happy and always laughing. He was "just a ray of sunshine, always kind and thoughtful with a dry sense of humor that was great," Robertson said.
They also applauded his musical talent and humble nature that led him to mentor and befriend other musicians, rather than compete with them.
"He never carried himself like a star but he played with so many of them," said Glen Rose, a local musician who knew Baum since the 1970s.
Charles Levin, former jazz writer for the Sentinel, said Baum "was the most inspiring jazz drummer in town. He was oozing with talent, could swing as well as any New York drummer and, for other local drummers, generous with his wisdom and talent."
I can’t help it either.
Too many items.
“Nice person” ; “mortal Advertisement injuries”; “democrat of the year”;
(snort)
Please ping me to the Cruzio list. Always nice to know what’s up in Sodom by the sea.
She could no longer deal with her husbands “Sintax”
I wonder what “Lead” her to that?
My brother lives not far away. That flea market is pretty big!
In some neighborhoods the gun would be quickly removed for later sale.
He resembles Joseph Stalin, she’s ‘Democrat of the Year’ and it didn‘t last?
It must be love - can’t be his looks or money.
Reads like the reporter’s TomTom should be on the byline.
Rage
Precisely why that detail was added. The prior sentence said that police believe that she acted alone. This detail adds to the evidence.
Lawyer, Democrat of the Year. Sounds like a slug to me.
I've heard those are bad, painful too.
Stay away from women with hyphenated names.
The worst kind!
I'm hoping this was a cut-and-paste error and not a new medical condition.
This whole tragedy could have been prevented if we had rigorous gun-control laws...against liberals and Democrats.
NO Cheers, unfortunately, as two people are dead.
Republicans are putting pressure on the Democrats to return the stolen money.
LOL! I now feel guilty sitting here roaring, while reading these posts. Your pic is toooooo funny while being appropriate!
“Mozee-Baum, who oversaw a legal team of 200 for the international law firm Townsend & Townsend, won the Democrat of the Year award from the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party in 2009.
Thursday night, she went to Baum’s home to confront him.”
So Baum won an award, she confronted him about the award and shot him.
Okay...
We are seeing the worst writing in print journalism in its history. Another reason newspapers are dying.
“Lawyer, Democrat of the Year. Sounds like a slug to me.”
That’s why she got the jacka$$ trophy!
Had to move my laptop into better light, thinking I was misreading this one.
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