Two fatal Christmas Day shootings in Alexandria are related, say police, revealing Wednesday that the man who killed himself at the second scene had been on the phone with the first victim minutes before she was killed.

The Alexandria Police Department still hasn't pieced together the exact relationship between Wendell Corey Reed, 58, and 33-year-old Tamyra Lea Tison (nee Allen), the woman who was shot and killed while in a car at the corner of 3rd and St. James streets in downtown Alexandria.

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That shooting was reported to police around 3:30 p.m. Minutes later, another shooting was reported at a home in the 2300 block of Madeline Street, which is off Chester Street.

Reed shot himself, say police, after he shot and killed Iona Louise Gatlin-Reed, 59, of Alexandria.

"These investigations are ongoing, and more physical evidence from both crime scenes will be processed and examined," reads the update. "This process is exhaustive and may take several days or even weeks, and could potentially reveal further links between the crimes, and may even shed light on the motives behind them.

"We ask that the families of the victims and the public remain patient while this evidence is processed properly."

Police said Tuesday that the Madeline Street shooting was a domestic violence incident. Gatlin-Reed was married to Reed, according to Rapides Parish Clerk of Court marriage records. Their marriage license was issued in November 2011.

Gatlin-Reed was a Rapides Parish school bus driver, according to a Facebook post.

A post from Tracy Collins Bock, an assistant principal at J.B. Nachman Elementary School, said Gatlin-Reed was the captain of Bus 5 at the school. She wrote that they plan to retire Bus 5 "for there will never be another Ms. Reed."

"She was a die-hard Bama fan but I loved her still! She was a rule follower, took her job seriously ... loved the children and was concerned for their well being!"

Reed had a criminal history, the most serious of which was an arrest on an attempted first-degree murder charge in May 2017. He was accused of stealing a hat from the Alexandria Mall, then dragging an Alexandria police officer with his truck while trying to flee.

The officer had shocked Reed before that because Reed told him he had something in his truck that the officer didn't need to see. Reed then reached for something in the cab, a move that the officer thought was a reach for a weapon, according to police.

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That charge was amended by the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office to a felony charge of resisting an officer with force or violence. He pleaded guilty in October 2017 to a misdemeanor charge of resisting an officer, receiving a suspended five-month jail term and a year's unsupervised probation.

The theft charge was dropped.

Reed's only other criminal case on record with the Rapides Parish Clerk of Court website concerns DWI and improper lane usage charges filed against him in October 2014. Both of those charges were dropped in April 2016.

A large crowd had gathered at the 3rd Street scene, watching from behind crime scene tape as investigators and the Rapides Parish Coroner's Office worked. The Pineville Police Department and Rapides Parish Sheriff's Office also were at the scene.

One man approached police and said he thought the victim was his stepdaughter because he recognized the black Dodge Charger with a personalized license platen that read "TATISON."

The car had come to a stop on the median, near the sidewalk, across the street from the T.R.E.E. House Children's Museum.

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An officer spoke with him, telling him nothing could be confirmed at the moment and that police still were determining what had happened.

A smaller crowd had gathered on Madeline Street, which is off Chester Street, to see what had happened. The Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office also was at the scene.

"It saddens me greatly that Christmas Day, a time when family should be celebrating together, is when a terrible crime like this occurs," said Chief Jerrod King in the release. "After seeing the scenes myself, I'm heartbroken for the families of the victims, and I can only hope for a day when domestic violence is a thing of the past."