By Tony Marrero, Michaela Mulligan
Tampa Bay Times
TAMPA, Fla. — Crystal Bresnahan wanted protection from her husband.
Bresnahan had been with Michael A. Bresnahan for about eight years and married for three of them, said Crystal’s mother, Amanda Music. But Crystal, 29, had decided the marriage was over, Music said.
“She left him and she was trying to get away from him,” Music said.
On Monday, Crystal was at a domestic violence shelter in Tampa when Michael Bresnahan attacked her, stabbing her more than a dozen times in front of their three children, according to Music, court documents and information released by the Tampa Police Department.
Michael Bresnahan, 33, died later that day after a police pursuit ended in a hail of gunfire, police said. The department identified Bresnahan in a news release late Tuesday night that included aerial and police body camera footage of the pursuit and shootout.
Eighteen officers opened fire on the SUV Bresnahan crashed on North Florida Avenue near Gladys Street after the pursuit, but investigators suspect he might have fatally shot himself, the release said. Autopsy results were pending Wednesday.
Police did not release Crystal Bresnahan’s name but Music and other family members publicly identified her in a GoFundMe campaign launched to support her and her children, who are 2, 5 and 6.
According to information previously released by police, officers responded Monday to a call about a woman stabbed in the Jackson Heights neighborhood. Police said Bresnahan stabbed the mother of his three children in front of them, then dropped off the children with his brother and stole the brother’s AK-47 rifle.
Police spotted Bresnahan’s SUV about 5:40 p.m. near the intersection of North Dale Mabry Highway and Spruce Street. A short time later, Bresnahan pointed the rifle at officers driving marked patrol vehicles, police said.
Bresnahan crashed into another car at the intersection of Florida Avenue and Gladys Street, then opened fire on officers with the rifle, according to police.
Tampa police returned fire, “believing Bresnahan posed an ongoing threat of imminent danger to additional community members and police officers,” the Tuesday news release states.
The aerial and body camera footage shows officers pursuing Bresnahan through Tampa streets for several minutes before crashing into the sedan. Police fired several gunshots at Bresnahan’s crashed car, and after the shooting stopped, body camera footage shows police pulling bystanders from cars at the scene.
The officers who discharged their weapons were placed on routine paid leave while an investigation is underway. The department on Wednesday cited Marsy’s Law and an active investigation for withholding the officers’ names but provided a list that showed they included two sergeants, two corporals and 14 officers who had between three and 24 years with the department.
On Tuesday, Bresnahan’s brother Thomas filed a petition seeking temporary custody of his brother’s three children while Crystal Bresnahan is recovering in the hospital.
According to the petition, Crystal Bresnahan was outside a domestic violence shelter on Monday when Michael Bresnahan arrived and tried to get her and the children into the SUV. (Music said the children were already in the SUV at that point).
By then, the petition states, a “child protective investigation” was already underway.
“When the mother refused to get into the car, the father stabbed the mother thirteen (13) times,” the petition states.
Bresnahan called Thomas Bresnahan to get the children and they met in the parking lot of a church, where the brother took the kids into his care, according to the petition. When Thomas Bresnahan returned home, law enforcement was waiting for him. At that point, Michael Bresnahan was on the phone “having suicidal discussions.”
“When the father heard law enforcement, he hung up the phone,” the petition states.
The attorney for Thomas Bresnahan who is listed on the petition, Gary De Pury, declined to comment because the case involves children.
In a phone interview from the hospital Wednesday, Music said her son-in-law had plenty of good qualities but also was “an angry person” with a short temper and a history of outbursts, so she worried about her daughter when she decided to leave him, and she feared she would receive a phone call like the one she got Monday after her daughter’s attack.
The GoFundMe page Music and another family member created says Bresnahan cannot work and will need a new car and a place to live.
Music said Crystal has had surgery to repair organs damaged in the attack but was doing well Wednesday.
She said her daughter wants to be open about her own ordeal to help others in similar situations.
“She wants to do whatever she can,” Music said.
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