The Elkton newlywed who police say shot her husband just 17 days after they were married and then turned the gun on herself had been beaten by the man last summer, according to court documents from Cecil County.

This information sheds new light on what authorities had at first described as a shooting "out of the blue" with the wife pulling the trigger on a stolen .38 caliber handgun as her husband sat calmly on the living room couch on Monday. Police said the man, Michael Schary, 45, staggered outside the couple's house on East Old Philadelphia Road and told officers and neighbors he had no idea why his wife had shot him in the head.

The wife, Viktoria Albright, 34, then went into the kitchen and fatally shot herself. Schary survived and remains in critical condition at a Delaware hospital. Lt. Bernard Chiominto of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office told me on Wednesday that detectives were investigating "reports that there may have been some domestic violence" between the couple.

Court records show that Maryland State Police responded to the house on July 26 about 10 a.m. and were told by Albright that her then-boyfriend had punched her the night before. The trooper noted in a charging document that Albright had "a swollen black and dark red in color abrasion to her right eye."

According to the report, Albright said Schary "was drinking heavily and was being verbally and physically abusive to her. Schary was yelling at Albright stating 'she was a piece of [expletive] and he could do much better.' Schary followed Albright around the house and wouldn't get away from her. In defense and an attempt to leave the house, she pushed Schary away from her. Schary then punched her in the face two times and then took the keys to her car and left the residence."

Albright told the trooper she had been living with Schary at that point for about one year. "She advised that Schary has physically abused her in the past, however this was the first time she had reported it."

Schary was charged with one count of second-degree assault, pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 and was sentenced to two years in jail, with all the time suspended. The couple married April 3.

During that time, Albright was still confronting her ex-husband, John M. Sweeney Sr., whom she divorced in 2006. The former couple was fighting over custody rights of their children and child support payments, according to court records. They were in and out of court and even had a hearing date scheduled for today to modify the child support payments.

Chiominto told me this morning investigators are still looking into the couple's past but have not determined a motive for the shootings. Chiominto told me that in the past year deputies had been called to the apartment building 10 times, twice to the victim's apartment. But in both those cases, he said children playing with the phone had called 911 and hung up.