The first time Andres Felix was formally charged with hitting Kawanna Goodman was in 2008. In 2022, police say, their relationship finally ended when he killed her and then shot himself.
"Putting his hands on me, it goes back years, all starting when we met in 2007 and when we got married in 2010, it has been back and forth drama," Kawanna wrote in 2016, asking for a protective order. "It has to stop here."
KATC Investigates finds that Lafayette Parish court records show they got married, and then she filed for divorce, and as recently as July 2022 were in court - when a judge ordered his wages garnished to pay child support for their children.
On Tuesday, police say Felix shot Ross Chaisson, 29, on Tournoir Street, then shot Paige Lewis, 25, in Duson, and eventually made his way to Clara Street to shoot Kawanna, 43. Finally, he drove to a relative's home on Sheila Drive where he took his own life.
If you are considering suicide there is help available. Call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24 hours a day.
If you are a victim of domestic violence, there is help available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 24/7, at 800-799-7233
Lafayette Parish court records show a long history of criminal charges for Felix, starting in 2007 when he was accused of principal to attempted first-degree murder, distribution of counterfeit drugs and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.
In 2008, he was formally charged with domestic violence after he allegedly shoved Kawanna, who was seven months pregnant with their child at the time, into a wall and onto the ground. The wall was damaged, she hit it so hard, and investigating officers took photos as evidence.
Kawanna's 12-year-old daughter was trying to stop Felix from hurting her mother, but he put his hand in her face and shoved her back, deputies wrote in their report. In her statement, Kawanna said they were arguing because Felix said he was taking her car but she needed it to go to work. He didn't take the car, but he did take money out of her purse and start walking down the road. That's where he was when police - who were summoned to the house by Kawanna's younger daughter dialing 911 - picked him up.
The child Kawanna was carrying at the time was born in 2008. In February 2010, the couple got married.
Felix was convicted of domestic abuse in February 2011.
In 2014, another child was born. In April 2015, Kawanna filed for divorce, records show.
In October 2015 Felix was arrested again for abuse against Kawanna, records show.
In May 2016, Kawanna applied for a protective order for herself and their two daughters. She wrote that on Mother's Day, Felix had "caught another temper fit, once again cause he couldn't have his way" and threatened to break everything in her house, adding that "when he was finished with the house I was next."
Kawanna wrote that she believed Felix "would harm me. He speaks it all the time, as well as telling it to my family and his and I'm afraid."
She said he still could get in her house and in the gate for her yard.
"He's capable of anything right now," she said. "And our kids are frightened as well."
Felix was formally charged in the October 2015 incident, and pleaded guilty to second-offense domestic violence in January 2017. He was given a suspended sentence and placed on probation, but by that fall his probation officer had filed a motion for revocation - because he never reported to probation, never did his community service and didn't pay his fine. Several warrants were issued for him, and by June 2018 he was in jail in Natchitoches Parish. The case was finalized in January 2021, when he paid his civil fine.
In between, there were multiple hearings in their divorce case, during which child support was ordered. Then there are hearings for Felix to explain why he wasn't paying it - and orders garnishing his wages to pay it.
In October 2020, Kawanna filed for another protective order for her and her children. She said on October 17, Felix called her "begging to come home" after he had been living with another woman for several weeks.
He again threatened to break everything in her house, and she started to leave work to go stop him but police said they could handle it. When she did get home, she found Felix, who was screaming at her, "calling me names, threatening my life."
"He was talking about if he had caught me with someone else, he would beat me and then shoot me (in the head)," she wrote.
She again said he has problems when he doesn't get his way, accused him of leaving and living with other women for weeks at a time, and said he had busted her lip at one point. She said it hadn't happened for a while because he had been in jail and was just released that April.
"I'm tired of all this in my life for no reason," she wrote.
That protective order was granted in November 2020, and included an order that Felix not possess a gun while it was in effect. It expired in May 2021.
The most recent update in the case came in July, when the court once again ordered that Felix's income be garnished to pay child support for his two children.
Between 2007 and 2019, Felix was formally charged with a number of criminal violations, including armed robbery, drug charges and weapons charges. In general, it appears he was able to plead to reduced charges, although several charges were dismissed by the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's Office.
In May 2017, he was given two years in prison via plea deal. In March 2020, he was given a five year sentence in another plea deal, with credit for time served.
