Michael Jace called his father-in-law after he shot his wife

Los Angeles  — Actor Michael Jace, who is charged with killing his wife, called and told his wife’s father about the shooting and asked him to come for the couple’s two young children soon after it happened, an emergency call released Thursday indicates.

In the three-minute call, the father of April Jace told a dispatcher that his son-in-law had called and texted him about the shooting.

“My son-in-law called me, and (texted) me, and said come get the kids because he shot April, our daughter,” the caller, whose name was redacted from the audio, told a fire department dispatcher.

Michael Jace, who played a police officer on the acclaimed TV series The Shield, was arrested on May 19, and police have said he also called police directly to report that he had shot his wife. That police call was not released.

Jace has been charged with murder but has not yet entered a plea.

His father-in-law called police while driving to the Los Angeles home of the couple. By then, police had already been notified of the shooting, according to the audio.

Michael Jace’s attorneys Jason Sias and Jamon Hicks did not comment on the content of the audio but noted that the case is relatively new and they were still investigating.

Motive for shooting not disclosed

“We have the utmost concern for the Jace children,” Sias and Hicks wrote. “Mr. Jace has a constitutional right to a defense. It remains extremely early and we are still in the fact-finding process.”

Police have not disclosed a possible motive for the shooting but previously said they were investigating whether it was prompted by financial difficulties or other marital problems. Michael Jace had filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and had fallen behind on payments to creditors as recently as December.

The family of April Jace released a statement last week calling her death “a senseless act of domestic violence.” The family said it was rallying around April Jace’s three sons, who range in ages from 5 to 18.

April Jace, 40, a financial aid counselor at Biola University, had two sons with her husband, both of whom were at home at the time of her killing. They were uninjured. Her oldest son was from a previous marriage.

Michael Jace also appeared on the show Southland and had small roles in the movies Planet of the Apes, Boogie Nights and Forrest Gump.

Credit: www.channel24.co.za

Michael Jace officially charged with his wife’s murder

Los Angeles  Actor Michael Jace has been formally charged with one count of murder with a gun in the shooting death of his wife, the prosecutor’s spokeswoman said Thursday.

April Jace, 40, died from “multiple gunshot wounds,” according to preliminary autopsy results. The death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner, Deputy Chief Coroner Ed Winter said.

Jace, 51, made his first appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday afternoon. Bail was set at $2 million, and his arraignment was continued until June 18 at the defense’s request.

“He’s doing as well as somebody who is in custody,” said Jason Sias, Jace’s lawyer. “It’s emotional. He wants to see this through. He’s just thinking about his children.”

Los Angeles police detectives presented their evidence against Jace, who played a Los Angeles cop in TV’s “The Shield,” to the district attorney Thursday morning, according to spokeswoman Jane Robison.

Police found April Jace shot to death in her south Los Angeles home Monday night, Det. Lyman Doster said.

Michael Jace called 911 to report that his wife had been shot, Det. Dean Vinluan said, adding that he “was on the phone with the operator.” Neighbors who heard gunshots also called 911, he said.

“At this moment, the motive of the murder is believed to be domestic violence,” a police statement this week said.

Investigators detained Jace at the couple’s Hyde Park-area home Monday night and booked the actor on a homicide charge early Tuesday, according to Doster.

Two children were in the home when their mother was shot, Vinluan said. The children, whose ages he would not reveal, were taken to a police station and then handed over to a representative of California’s Department of Children and Family Services, he said.

Investigators have found no reports of domestic violence between the husband and wife at their south Los Angeles residence, another LAPD detective said.

A woman described as a close friend of Jace’s first wife said in a sworn statement that she witnessed Jace physically abusing his wife in 1997. The declaration was in court records from Jace’s 2005 custody case concerning his son with Jennifer Bitterman.

Jace “choked and hit” his wife and “slammed her against the wall while (their infant son) screamed in his crib next to her,” Maria De Le Vegas said in the sworn declaration obtained by CNN.

Jace “was raging and out of control, and seeing the extent of his anger was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen,” she said.

Jace appeared to be suffering severe financial strain in recent years, according to court documents obtained by CNN. The actor filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in March 2011, citing $500,000 in debts and an annual income of around $80,000 from residuals from his TV and film work, the documents said.

Jace had defaulted on the $411,000 mortgage on the south Los Angeles home where his wife died, according to the documents.

He married April Jace in June 2003, a year after divorcing his first wife, with whom he shared a son who is now a teen.

The FX police drama “The Shield” was the biggest and longest-running role in Jace’s 22-year acting career. He appeared in 89 episodes as Julien Lowe, who started as a rookie officer in an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct in 2002 and rose through the ranks to become a detective before the series ended in 2008, according to the Internet Movie Database.

He acted on several episodes of “Southland,” another TV drama about Los Angeles police, between 2009 and 2012.

Jace often played a law enforcement or military officer on television shows. He is credited with roles in “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “Private Practice,” “The Mentalist,” “Burn Notice” and “NYPD Blue.”

He had the title role of Michael Jordan in the 1999 TV movie about the NBA star, “Michael Jordan: An American Hero.”

Jace played Officer Brown in Russell Crowe’s 2009 film “State of Play,” and he portrayed a Black Panther member in the 1994 blockbuster movie “Forrest Gump.”

April Jace had worked for the past year as a financial aid counselor at Biola University, a private school in La Mirada, California, according to the school.

“We are obviously shocked and saddened by this terrible news, to lose a wonderful colleague, mother and friend,” Biola President Barry Corey said in a written statement.

“April’s radiant personality brought great energy to the financial aid office,” financial aid director Geoff Marsh said. “Her love for helping students and families and her great work ethic earned the respect and love of her coworkers. Her smiling face and helpful spirit will be missed by all.”

Credit: CNN

“The Shield” actor Michael Jace calls 911 after fatally shooting his wife

 

“The Shield” actor Michael Jace once threatened to kill his first wife if she “went to war” over visitation rights for their son, according to reports.

Jace’s simmering penchant for violence — which exploded in deadly gunfire in Los Angeles Monday night when he allegedly shot his current wife, April — was laid out in court records generated during a bitter divorce from his first wife, Jennifer Bitterman.

A friend of his ex told the court an out-of-control Jace, best known for playing a sexually conflicted cop on the long-running FX series, choked his wife and slammed her against a wall as then-6-month-old Jordan screamed in his nearby crib.

“Seeing the extent of his anger was one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen,” she said, according to court records.

But Jace’s doomed wife testified more than a decade ago that her then-fiancé was a good provider for Jordan and called Bitterman a bad mother. At the time, she relayed the boy’s chilling concerns for his mom.

“Usually at bedtime, (Jordan) prays for his mom and asks God to protect her while he’s not there with her,” she told the Los Angeles divorce court, according to the records obtained by TMZ.com.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Jace threatened to kill Bitterman if she fought for visitation rights.

April bore the brunt of Jace’s fury about 8:30 p.m. Monday. About 15 minutes after she returned home with their two sons from baseball practice, Jace allegedly shot her multiple times. They had argued over money, police said.

“At the very least, (the kids) heard the shots,” LAPD Detective Sal LaBarbera told the Los Angeles Times.

It’s not clear where Jace, 51, got the gun. On a statement of the actor’s assets, he checked a box indicating he didn’t own a firearm.

“This is more than a shock,” the slain woman’s big brother, Carlo Laune, told the Daily News. “It’s out of this world.”

Laune, a 44-year-old Marine, said he had no inkling Jace and his sister were at odds.

“I was on two combat deployments with the Marine Corps and she wrote to me like clockwork,” he said. “She knew what dedication was. She knew what love was.”

Jace reportedly confessed to the murder after making a damning 911 call for help. “I shot my wife,” he reportedly told the operator, according to TMZ.com.

Jace stayed on the line and was standing in the doorway when cops arrived and found his 40-year-old wife’s body sprawled in a hallway. While Jace was hauled off to jail, the couples’ two young sons — both of whom are under 10 — were turned over to their maternal grandmother.

The suspected killer was booked on suspicion of homicide and ordered held on $1 million bail. It’s not clear he’ll be able to raise the money. The Paterson, N.J.-born actor filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and listed debts of $500,000 to $1 million — most of it owed on his home in the Hyde Park section, The Associated Press reported.

Jace also owed more than $22,000 in income taxes, and still owed the state of California more than $20,000 in back taxes for 2008. As part of the bankruptcy, Jace agreed to a repayment plan, but by last November he had already fallen $2,000 behind, according to the AP.

Jace and his wife were married for 10 years and her Facebook page has pictures of the couple in happier days.

April worked in the financial aid office at Biola University, a private Christian college in L.A.   She also had a grown son from an earlier relationship.