Husband Faces Several Charges In Attack Man Allegedly Blasted His Way Into Home Of Estranged Wife With 12-Gauge Shotgun

Stevens County authorities have filed a half-dozen charges against a man who allegedly blasted his way into his estranged wife’s home with a 12-gauge shotgun and nearly killed her.

Terry Lee Fors, 37, faces trial Feb. 12 on two counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, two counts of first-degree assault with a firearm, first-degree burglary with a firearm and reckless violation of a protection order while armed.

Fors was in the county jail Monday in lieu of $200,000 bail.

Sheriff Craig Thayer said Fors’ wife, Diane Fors, and her “paramour,” were watching television in the living room of her home last Tuesday when Fors blew a door open with a shotgun. Thayer said Fors reloaded the single-shot weapon, pointed it at his estranged wife and Tracey L. Ferguson, and threatened to kill them while she was calling 911.

According to court documents, Fors kicked Diane Fors in the head, threw her against a couch and kicked her in the ribs while she pleaded with him to stop.

Then Diane Fors, 42, reportedly grabbed the shotgun barrel and Ferguson, 33, who had taken cover under a chair, joined the struggle. Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Al Nielson said the weapon discharged just as the muzzle moved away from Diane Fors’ chest.

At that point, she and Ferguson tackled their 6-foot-6, 230-pound assailant and managed to hold him until sheriff’s officers could get to the home in Arden, six miles south of Colville.

“I am very pleased that no one was seriously harmed,” Thayer said. “We believe the shot narrowly missed Diane Fors.”

Thayer said Terry Fors is a longtime Colville-area resident who recently moved to Dillard in southern Oregon. Fors and his wife separated Nov. 30 after she filed for divorce and got a court order to keep him away from her and their children.

Fors bought the shotgun while driving back to the family home, Thayer said.

The couple’s children - Angelia, 16, and Adam, 13 - were at home when the attack occurred. Nielson said both children reported hearing their father shouting obscenities and threatening to kill their mother.

Nielson said Fors also made an unsolicited comment to sheriff’s officers that Ferguson “used to be my best friend” and that “I came here to kill him, but I couldn’t do it.”

A deputy reported finding 13 shotgun shells in Fors’ coat pocket and a box of shells in his pickup.

Nielson said the Fors’ marriage has been “consistently violent over the years,” and Terry Fors had threatened to kill his wife with a shotgun at least once before.

Fors was convicted of assaulting his wife 10 years ago by throwing her against a brick wall at the Red Bull restaurant in Colville, Nielson said. He said Fors also was convicted of assaulting his wife 15 years ago in Lewis County, when he threw her out of their trailer home by her hair.