The ex-wife of a man accused of fatally shooting another man and shooting a Raleigh police officer spoke Friday for the first time since she survived the ordeal.
Jill Rohner is the ex-wife of Antonio Rodrigues, who police say broke into her home Tuesday night and killed John Rowe, 73. Then, Rodrigues died in an exchange of gunfire with Raleigh police officers in Raleigh’s Renaissance Park neighborhood.
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"I thought I was going to be dead, but he could have, he could have killed me," Rohner said of Rodrigues.
Officer Max Gillick was hospitalized after Rodrigues shot him on Tuesday, police said. As of Friday, Gillick remains in critical condition at WakeMed.
Rohner said she heard a knock on the door of her home on Tuesday when a man with a face covering held a bouquet of flowers.
“He [Rodrigues] had a big mask on his face and a hood, at which point he just kind of plowed through the front door, and both John and I were like, ‘Whoa … dude, what are you doing? Get out of here,’” Rohner said.
Rohner said Rodrigues shot Rowe after a struggle. Rohner said she tried to drag Rowe out of the house as police officers started to arrive.
Police instructed Rohner to run toward them while she was wearing only socks. Eventually,
“I didn't want to leave John [Rowe], but I did that,” Rohner said. “I ran across the median.”
Kayla Biesaga, who lives across the street from Rowe, said her family provided Rohner shelter while police and Rodrigues exchanged gunfire.
Rohner said she was in a relationship with Rowe.
“A couple years ago, [I] met this wonderful man, John Rowe, who I have recently said to people, ‘It took me 67 years, but I finally got it right [and] found the right person,’” Rohner said. “[I] was very much in love.”
Court records show Rohner had a restraining order against Rodrigues, who had multiple convictions for stalking and harassing his ex-wife.
In 2014, Rohner and Rodrigues filed for divorce in Carteret County. That same year he was convicted the first time for stalking. Rodrigues was convicted again in 2023 for stalking and disclosing private images of Rohner.
“He did not take me asking him for a divorce well at all,” Rohner said. “So, 11 years ago, he actually had a gun to my temple at one point back then.
WRAL Investigates found Rodrigues’ most recent addresses in Carteret County and New Jersey, both of which were many miles from Rohner’s home in Raleigh.
“Basically, for 11 years, every year, I have refiled for a domestic violence protective order,” Rohner said. “And almost every year that I have done that, I have pleaded that he get serious help, mental health kind of help because I suspected that he could snap at any minute.
“He was just constantly harassing me.”
The court records show Rodrigues was scheduled to go through abuser treatment, get a mental health assessment and “have no contact with [Rohner].”
Rodrigues’ latest conviction came in 2024, which resulted in probation with stipulations that he had to stay at least 300 yards away from Rohner.
The documents list the maximum punishment for the crimes as about 17 years. Instead, a judge gave Rodrigues three years probation, which would've run through March 2026.
“There [were] felonies, then that got dropped for the divorce purposes, in order for him to finally sign and let me be divorced,” Rohner said.
Rohner said Rowe was a retired family doctor who graduated from Yale.
According to Rohner, Rowe leaves behind kids and grandkids in Durham.
“He [was] a widow, so they lost their mother four years ago, and they lost a sister a year before that, and now they've lost him, and it's just a mess,” Rohner said of Rowe’s family.