Woman Got Protection Order Hours Before She Was Killed

A Lehigh County judge issued a six-month protection from abuse order barring a Bethlehem man from seeing his wife and three children just hours before he allegedly gunned his wife down in the street in front of their home, according to published reports.

Win Min Htut, 37, has been charged with criminal homicide in the death of Thida Myint. He is being held in Lehigh County Prison without bail.

Myint, 37, of 319 Central Park Ave., died of a single gunshot wound to the body, Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim determined during a Wednesday autopsy.

On Tuesday, Lehigh County Judge Carol McGinley barred Htut from seeing his family for six months with one exception: He would have been allowed to see his 16-year-old daughter sworn in as a U.S. citizen on Thursday, according to The Morning Call.

Though the family lived in West Bethlehem, in Lehigh County, Myint had first sought a protection from abuse order—with a request to confiscate Htut’s gun—in Northampton County Court, according to The Express-Times.

Though the order was apparently granted, it is unclear whether the weapon was confiscated. If it was, it was unclear how Htut obtained another gun.

All three of the couple’s children witnessed the shooting and Htut fled the scene with the youngest child—a 3-year-old girl, according to The Express-Times. Police arrested Htut at a nearby 7-Eleven store in Allentown.

In addition to criminal homicide, Htut is charged with burglary and criminal trespassing. He was arraigned before on-duty District Judge Rod Beck of Slatington. Htut’s preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Christmas Eve morning.

This was the third homicide in Bethlehem this year.

Lucas Cabassa was charged in the May shooting death of Joseph Rodriguez in the Lynfield section of South Bethlehem.

After a seven-month search, Ulysses “Slime” Rodriguez was arrested in November for the January slaying of Tyree Wimberly outside a strip club on the border between Bethlehem and Allentown.