Christopher Haxel

Lansing State Journal

LANSING - In 2014, Latoy Tate requested and received a personal protection order against a man with whom she shared a child.

"I'm very scared that Marcus Osby will really hurt me soon," she wrote in the protection request, which alleged a long history of physical abuse.

Police believe Osby, 28, on Friday entered a home the couple used to share, killed Tate and another man, then turned the gun on himself.

Lansing Police Chief Michael Yankowski said police found Osby, Tate, 28, and Xazier Dean, 25, all dead of apparent gunshot wounds in a duplex in the 2900 block of Truman Circle in the early morning hours Friday.

Osby was the father of two of Tate's three children, police said, but none of them were at the home during the shooting.

Yankowski characterized the shooting as a "domestic-related" incident but said it is "way too early in the investigation to get into the 'why.'"

An anonymous 911 call at 1:20 a.m. Friday requested a welfare check at the residence, he said.

When officers arrived, evidence at the scene prompted them to enter the home, Yankowski said, where they discovered the bodies.

All three were Lansing residents, he said, and Tate lived in the duplex nestled at the end of a cul de sac in a quiet residential neighborhood.

The protection order Tate received in 2014 was in effect for a six-month period. There's no indication in court records that it was ever renewed.

Osby, a former Everett High School basketball player, lived at the same address as recently as 2014, according to court records.

He had also been previously charged in connection with a shooting.

Osby faced several felony charges, including assault with intent to murder, after a man was shot in the shoulder outside a Lansing bar in 2012.

He was ordered to stand trial on the charges, but court records show the case was dropped in 2013 due to a lack of evidence.

Autopsies are expected within one or two days, Yankowski said.

The outburst of violence was surprising, said Tate's neighbor Claudia Tenny.

"It's very safe," she said, of the neighborhood located near Carl G. Fenner Arboretum and dotted with tidy multifamily homes. "There are kids out a lot in the summertime, a lot of young kids on bikes."

Dan Currie, who lives next door to the duplex where the shooting occurred, said he was not aware of the incident until he went outside to go to work this morning.

"There's lots of families with kids around here, you just don't think this kind of thing would happen in your neck of the woods," Currie said.

Police ask anyone with information about the shooting to call Detective Sgt. Todd Johnson at 483-6864 or anonymously call CRIME STOPPERS at 483-7867

Reporter Ken Palmer contributed to this report.

Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.