Shocking footage captured the moments after a woman fatally shot her estranged husband on the steps of a Mississippi courthouse following their divorce hearing.
Tanya Saucier, 49, was arrested Tuesday for shooting James Ray Saucier, 62, outside the entrance to the Pearl River County Chancery Courthouse in Poplarville after they finalized their divorce papers.
Video captured the chaos that followed minutes after the shooting, as witnesses scrambled to save the victim and officers took Tanya into custody on charges of first-degree murder.
“The lifesaving efforts our citizens performed for Mr. Saucier were phenomenal,” said Maj. Scott Allee, lead investigator for the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office. WLOX.
Courthouse personnel were seen surrounding James Ray, who was just a few feet away from the front doors of the building.
Jansen Owen, who represented Tanya during the divorce trial, was captured shirtless while kneeling next to the victim – his clothing ripped off in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Other employees of the chancellery’s registry also took action.
“They were out there, he was laying on their lap,” Owen told the outlet.
‘They helped me put pressure on his wounds. They took my tie and applied a tourniquet to his wounds.
Video footage captured the moments after Tanya Saucier, 49, shot her estranged husband outside a Mississippi courthouse following legal proceedings finalizing their divorce
The shocking footage showed courthouse employees and a shirtless Jansen Owen, Tanya’s attorney, surrounding 62-year-old James Ray Saucier after he was shot.
Tanya initially filed for divorce on December 27, 2023, after James Saucier (photo) allegedly shot her in the eye, head and chest on September 1, 2023.
“Those girls at the chancellery clerk’s office are real heroes.”
Pearl River County Chancery Court Clerk Melinda Bowman emotionally relived the experience as she recalled the actions of her staff.
“They all served him. They are all deeply committed Christians, just like me,” she told the newspaper.
“And they knew he was about to close his eyes on this life and they started talking to him about what was going to happen and they said, ‘All you have to do is run to Jesus.’
Bowman then recalled how James Ray squeezed one of the women’s hands twice before closing his eyes for the last time.
“Yesterday was the best example of them going to extremes,” she added. “And I’ve never been so proud.”
According to the Pearl River County Sheriff’s Office, gunfire broke out at the courthouse around 12:15 Tuesday afternoon.
Tanya allegedly shot her estranged husband several times following a proceeding in which their lawyers negotiated the terms of their officially finalized divorce.
According to Donald Rafferty, James Ray’s attorney, she became upset about the trial process during the hearing. WDAM reported.
It was also revealed that Tanya shouldn’t have even been in the courthouse in the first place, WLOX reported.
Due to the Sauciers’ volatile relationship, the court wanted to keep the couple separated during the ordeal.
The court ordered Tanya to appear in court around 10am and leave immediately afterwards.
James Ray showed up about an hour later to complete his part in completing the paperwork, by which time Tanya should have been gone.
But she never left the building and instead waited in her truck until James Ray left the building, witnesses told investigators.
“I left the building, Mr. James Ray left right behind me, and that’s when I heard gunshots,” Owen recalled to the outlet.
“And finally determined that Miss Tanya had opened fire,” he added. “I saw her continue shooting at Mr. James Ray. She came towards me and I grabbed her and held her against the vehicle.’
Video footage also captured the gun, determined to be a 9mm handgun, lying on the ground just a few feet away from where several people were attempting to perform life-saving measures on James Ray.
Due to the couple’s violent history, the court scheduled Tanya to appear in court at 10 a.m. and then leave immediately so James Ray could arrive to complete his part of the paperwork.
Witnesses told investigators that instead of leaving, Tanya waited in her truck for her estranged husband to leave the building.
Owen also kicked the gun – which was confirmed to be a 9mm pistol – away from a crazed Tanya, WLOX reported.
A court officer who was in the building across the street ran to the scene and arrested Tanya seconds before Poplarville police officers arrived and took her into custody.
Tanya originally filed for divorce in December 2023 after James Ray shot her in the eye three months earlier, according to court documents obtained by WDAM.
Additionally, James Ray allegedly shot her once in the head and four times in the chest during the same incident after becoming angry with her while drinking. Fox8 reported this.
A family friend told Fox 8 News that the couple had a long history of domestic violence.
“Once they got married, things fell apart,” a loved one of Tanya’s, who chose to remain anonymous, told the outlet. ‘It got bad. Very violent.’
Court documents revealed that James called 911 to report that he had shot his wife in the head – an act his attorney and family members said was in self-defense.
‘She lost her eye. She has brain problems. She’s having seizures,” Tanya’s lover told Fox 8. “She’s on medication. She’s in constant pain.’
One of Tanya’s Facebook posts shows the aftermath after the incident where James Ray allegedly shot her in the eyes, once in the head and four times in the chest, after he became angry with her while drinking.
A family friend of Tanya’s told a news outlet that the couple had a long history of domestic violence and that the 49-year-old woman lived in “constant fear.”
Donald Rafferty, James Ray’s attorney, said Tanya became upset about the trial process during the hearing
The same family member also noted how her original prosthetic eye, along with most of her belongings and her two black Labrador retrievers, were destroyed in a fire.
“She was harassed,” they added. “She has been tormented again and again, where she lived in fear. Constant fear.’
James Ray was indicted in August of this year on charges of aggravated assault and domestic violence with a deadly weapon. His trial was scheduled for March 2025.
Court records also show that Tanya applied for a protective order on April 2, which was approved on November 26.
Her divorce lawyer Owen noted that there is no excuse for her actions.
“There is no justification, there is no excuse for anyone to open fire on anyone in a public setting like this,” he said. WLOX.
‘We don’t do vigilante justice in America,” he added. “What Miss Saucier did yesterday is unjustifiable and I witnessed her kill him.”
Because of the documented history of violence between the two, Jose Raspanti, a Fox 8 legal analyst, said her attorney could use lack of mental capacity as a defense, but it would have to meet the criteria.
“I don’t think there will be a good self-defense argument,” he told the newspaper. “She chose to take the law into her own hands and kill this man.
“Regardless of what he did to her before, she cannot choose to end his life in her own specific time and place.”
Tanya made her first court appearance on Wednesday, where she was denied bail by the court judge.