Ex-boyfriend charged with murder after Molly Maid worker fatally shot in Apex
Police arrested a man Monday they say fatally shot his ex-girlfriend outside her workplace in an Apex shopping center that morning.
Felicia Barbee-Battle was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds after 8 a.m. outside the Molly Maid cleaning business at Beaver Creek Crossings where she worked, according to the Apex Police Department.
Barbee-Battle, 30, had two children, according to ABC11, The News & Observer’s news-gathering partner. She died after being taken to the hospital.
Tevin Montrell Leach, 30, who fled after the shooting, was arrested without incident in Jacksonville, N.C., about 30 miles away, Apex police reported in an update Monday afternoon.
Suspect is ex-boyfriend
Leach was known to Barbee-Battle’s coworkers because he had visited her there before, police said in a news release.
She was inside the business when Leach came in and asked to speak with her. She went out to talk with him, and Leach allegedly shot her several times.
“The thing with domestic violence is, you know, it doesn’t matter how nice an area is or anything,” Police Chief Jason Armstrong told ABC11.
“Where people are, and then when individuals are committed to violence, violence can happen anywhere,” he said.
Molly Maid of Cary & Johnston County where Barbee-Battle worked remained open Monday afternoon, but suspended work after the shooting, according to owner Deborah Whalen, who declined to comment further.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of an employee of the locally owned and operated Molly Maid of Cary and Johnston County franchise located in Apex, NC,” Molly Maid said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the individual’s family, the franchise owner, and the entire staff of the local Molly Maid franchise location.”
The company declined to comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
Group seeks ‘femicide’ law
El Centro Hispano, a Latino nonprofit in the Triangle, recently called on Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein to support making the killings of women by men close to them or who are their current or former partners a unique offense in North Carolina.
This type of offense is called femicide or feminicide, and El Centro Hispano tracked at least 51 such homicide cases in the state through local media reports and police reports.
“On Women’s History Month, El Centro Hispano is raising its voice to bring attention to the rise in cases of femicide in the state,” spokeswoman Berenice Malagón said Monday. “The recent two femicides, one that happened today in Apex ... shows us how these cases are on the rise. We have raised concerns along with other organizations to ask local authorities to pay attention to this.”
The other case Malagón referred to happened this month in Johnston County, when Garner mother Emily Steinhoff James was allegedly shot by her sister’s ex-husband when she accompanied her sister on a child-custody exchange.
24-hour crisis lines
▪ The Durham Crisis Response Center: 919-403-6562 (English) and 919-519-3735 (Spanish). thedcrc.org/
▪ InterAct in Wake County: 919-828-7740 (English) and 844-203-8896 (Spanish). thedcrc.org/
▪ The Compass Center for Women and Families in Orange County: 919-929-7122. www.compassctr.org/
