Ex-girlfriend of KY church shooter sought restraining order days before shooting
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Fatal shooting at Lexington, KY church
Two people were killed and three others, including a Kentucky State trooper, were injured July 13, 2025 in a pair of shootings involving one suspect at Blue Grass Airport and a church in Lexington.
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For the past three months, the relationship between Guy House and his girlfriend had deteriorated.
House had taken her driver’s license, gone through her phone to see who she was calling, checked to see if she was at work, and stalked her at a neighborhood pool. He was angry at her, the woman said in a phone interview with the Herald-Leader, and angry at a past partner who had blocked him from seeing his daughter.
The Herald-Leader does not typically name victims of domestic violence.
On July 4, the woman told him everything was over. He then broke into her house, stole her two firearms and her car. She called the police and filed an emergency protective order. The hearing was scheduled for July 14.
But on July 13, House apparently snapped. He shot a police officer who pulled him over, police said, then drove to Richmond Road Baptist Church, where his former partner and her family attended. The former partner wasn’t there, but he shot and killed her mother and sister, and injured her father and another man.
Police said Monday that House was accompanied by another person when he shot the officer, but that person has not been charged and is cooperating with the investigation.
The victims were identified as Beverly Gumm, 72, and Christina Combs, 34. Gumm’s husband, the longtime pastor of the church, Jerry Gumm, and Combs’ husband, Randy Combs, were wounded.
House was killed by police at the scene.
The woman who filed the restraining order said she had gone to a relative’s house in Winchester on Sunday because something told her to leave her house. She got the news later that day.
“I feel sad, but I also feel free,” she said Monday. “I was able to sleep and shower in the house by myself last night. But my heart goes out to all of them, and I’m just so sorry.”
The woman said she doesn’t know if House used one of her firearms in the shooting, but police have it in custody. It’s also still unclear which car he was driving on Sunday.
House had a lengthy criminal record, but most of it involved drugs and robbery, not domestic violence.
The woman said the restraining order had not yet been served on House, but he knew of its existence. Sheriff Kathy Witt, whose office serves such orders, confirmed that, saying the EPO did not have an address for House and her officers had not yet been able to find him.
“I didn’t think it would end this way, honestly,” the woman said. “I thought the cops would incarcerate him before that. I’m still in shock over everything.”
Close relationship between mass shootings and domestic violence
Almost 70% of mass shootings — defined as at least four people being injured or killed — involve perpetrators who either killed intimate partners or have a history of domestic violence, according to a 2019 study.
The woman praised the Lexington police officer who helped her fill out the restraining order, which details House’s escalating threatening behavior. But she said that domestic violence is still not taken seriously by society at large.
“Either it’s overlooked, or people think you’re exaggerating,” she said.
The woman has worked in substance abuse facilities, and said she believed that House’s past drug problems had returned. He wasn’t working full time, she said, living off disability from a past injury.
Darlene Thomas, the executive director of Greenhouse17, Fayette County’s domestic violence shelter and program, said domestic violence continues to be a problem in our society because of a complex web of issues.
“But I do believe that there is a need for self-reflection among all of us — what is it we value, and how do we hold people accountable? It often feels like the people responsible are the victims themselves, and we blame them — they should have had a safety plan, etc. — instead of focusing on the problem. We as a society need to start taking the responsibility off victims and onto batterers.
“Sometimes it feels like we as society hold those with the least power accountable rather than those who have proven they have the capacity to do harm.”
Sheriff Witt, a longtime advocate for domestic violence survivors, said that while there are many resources available, domestic violence needs to be discussed more.
“I think that we can never stop talking about it,” she said. “We do know batterers want to hurt victim in a way that’s most hurtful, that often is to try to harm their families or their pets, so we have to keep talking about it and we have to keep saying this is not a healthy relationship, this is not ok for you to be treated this way, we are here to help you and here are resources to help you.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct Christina Combs’ age.
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 1:43 PM.
