text: Allegations by Los Angeles police that "Shield" actor Michael Jace shot his wife to death at their Hyde Park home Monday night shocked longtime neighbors who described the couple as loving and friendly, but it isn't the first time he's faced accusations of domestic violence. 
   
   Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that Jace confessed to fatally shooting his wife, April, multiple times around 8:30 p.m. Monday at their home in the 5400 block of Brynhurst Avenue. April Jace, a well-liked financial aid employee at Biola University, had walked in the door just 10 to 15 minutes earlier after picking up the couple's sons from baseball practice. 
   
   Los Angeles police said in a statement that the motive for the shooting "is believed to be domestic violence" — an accusation levied against Michael Jace nearly two decades ago when he divorced his previous wife, Jennifer Bitterman. 
   
   In court documents she described one instance in which she said Michael Jace threatened to kill her if they went to “war” over his visitation rights of their son. In the divorce filing, Bitterman painted a portrait of her husband as temperamental and unreliable. 
   
   In another filing, a longtime friend of Bitterman's described a violent incident she said she witnessed between the couple. 
   
   The woman told the court she was in the room when Michael Jace “choked and hit” Bitterman and “slammed her against the wall while [her son] screamed in his crib next to her.” The child was 6 months old at the time. 
   
   "The Shield" actor Michael Jace remains in custody after the fatal shooting of his wife. "The Shield" actor Michael Jace remains in custody after the fatal shooting of his wife. SEE MORE VIDEOS 
   
   The friend added she saw at least three more incidents of violence in the eight months she lived with the couple between 1996 and when Michael Jace filed for divorce in 1997. 
   
   It was not the same picture painted by Jace's neighbors in Hyde Park, who on Tuesday said they never saw or suspected any violence in the home. 
   
   "All I heard coming out of that household were giggles," said Shirley Harding, who has lived next door for about 12 years. 
   
   She added that the couple always appeared to be in good spirits. 
   
   "They were always hugging and kissing each other," she said. "Both were great parents." 
   
   Law enforcement sources have told The Times that "The Shield" actor Michael Jace has confessed to shooting his wife to death. Law enforcement sources have told The Times that "The Shield" actor Michael Jace has confessed to shooting his wife to death. SEE MORE VIDEOS 
   
   That sentiment was shared by most neighbors, who said they often saw Jace walking his German Shephard named Max and his two children on the street. 
   
   "He's a very good dad who always played with his kids," said Brandon Cook, 35. 
   
   But behind the giggles and dog walks, Michael Jace, 51, was under financial stress. 
   
   The actor filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in March 2011, when he listed his liabilities at more than $500,000 against assets of $325,000, according to federal court records. 
   
   At the time he was more than $22,000 in debt to the government, more than $16,000 in debt to credit card companies and still owed on two mortgages. 
   
   Cook said Michael Jace struggled to find steady work after "The Shield" stopped airing a few years ago, and he noticed that the family downgraded to less expensive cars. 
   
   "It was apparent," Cook said. 
   
   The actor appeared to have been keeping up with his payments until late last year, when one of his creditors filed a motion stating the actor had fallen behind by about $2,800, according to the federal court records. 
   
   On Monday, Harding said she saw Michael Jace quickly pull his gray van into the driveway, leaving his front door ajar. 
   
   Shortly after, as she was washing her car, she heard a popping noise. 
   
   "I wasn't sure if it was a gunshot, but then I heard two more popping noises and I ran into my house." 
   
   Other neighbors reported hearing the couple arguing just before the shots rang out, KNBC-TV reported. 
   
   Los Angeles police say the couple's two sons, both under 10, were home at the time of the shooting, but were physically unharmed. 
   
   Michael Jace was standing in the doorway unarmed when police arrived. His wife's body was found in a hallway inside the home, police said. 
   
   
   
   As police continued to investigate the pink stucco house Tuesday, neighbors were forced to confront two incredibly different narratives of the family they thought they knew. 
   
   "They were like the Huxtables on the block," Tonja Edwards, 42, said. That Michael Jace might have killed his wife "in cold blood like that, really leaves us all puzzled," she added. 
   
   The shooting also shocked Biola University, where April Jace was a well-liked financial aid worker. 
   
   University President Barry H. Corey issued a statement Tuesday saying the La Mirada campus was “obviously shocked and saddened by this terrible news, to lose a wonderful colleague, mother and friend.” 
   
   The couple's two sons were staying with family members as the investigation continued. In addition to the two sons she had with Michael Jace, April also had an older son from a previous relationship. 
   
   "I'm heartbroken," Cook said. "My prayers go out to the family and for those kids because they don't have their mom or their dad anymore." ||||| Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Michael Jace (right) with his wife April. The actor is accused of shooting and killing his wife in front of their sons. AP April Jace, who, according to police, was shot multiple times by her husband, Michael Jace, after she returned home with their children on Monday. Previous Next 
   
   Enlarge 
   
   Michael Jace was a father from hell. 
   
   “The Shield” actor’s first wife claims he had an “intimidation style of discipline,” spanking their young son Jordan “for crying or being afraid” and threatening the boy once for “failing to stand up to his stepbrother.” 
   
   Jace, who is now accused of gunning down his second wife, April, was so terrifying that Jordan would cry if had to spend any time alone with his dad, Jennifer Bitterman said in court papers. 
   
   “I would make every effort to encourage Jordan to be brave and reassure him that (Jace) loves him and that he is safe with him,” Bitterman said in records from the 2004 custody case. 
   
   The acid appraisal of Jace’s parenting came as the 51-year-old actor remained jailed on suspicion of murder and the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office prepared to do an autopsy on his dead wife. 
   
   Police said there was no history of domestic violence in the Jace household and the actor had no prior arrests. 
   
   Bitterman, in the papers, said Jace was a mostly absent dad for the first five years of Jordan’s life and “all but abandoned him during this time.” 
   
   “Financial support was infrequent as well,” she complained. 
   
   But when Jordan was 6, Jace began seeing April and got religion. 
   
   Brentt/AP Michael Jace (right) was detained by police after the shooting on Monday night. 
   
   “His attitude seemed to have changed about fatherhood with the help of his new involvement in Christianity,” Bitterman said. 
   
   Jace began asking for overnight visits with Jordan. But they did not go well. 
   
   Once, Bitterman said, Jordan called her and was “inconsolably sobbing.” She said Jace refused to drive him home. 
   
   Bitterman could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Neither could her now-grown son. 
   
   “He’s a really good kid,” neighbor Tony Wren, 70, said. “He’s going to college. I think he was looking at Columbia. This is a lot of weight for him to be carrying.” 
   
   Wren also called Bitterman “a very good mom.” 
   
   “I'm glad she got out of that situation,” he said, referring to her sad marriage to Jace. “It could have been her.” 
   
   Jace’s two sons with April were home when he gunned down their mother Monday and then called 911, police said. Both boys are younger than age 10. 
   
   Dwight Flowers/AP The body of April Jace is removed from the couple’s home. Valerie Macon/Getty Images A police officer removes police tape from actor Michael Jace's home on Tuesday. Previous Next 
   
   Enlarge 
   
   The actor’s 18-year-old stepson, Savoy Brown, was not home at the time, his grandmother said. 
   
   “It’s lucky he wasn’t there,” Naomi Brown said. “He probably would have tried to defend her.” 
   
   Brown, who is 74 and lives in Rhode Island, said she met Jace at her grandson's graduation party last year and did not get the sense he might be dangerous. 
   
   “He was very attentive to his two little boys when I met him,” she said. “We all had a really good time.” 
   
   Best known for playing a sexually conflicted cop on the long-running FX series, Jace is deep in debt and police suspect he and his wife of 10 years were fighting over money. 
   
   When she was still Jace’s fiancée, April defended the actor during the custody fight, calling him a good dad and provider. She also called Bitterman a bad mom. 
   
   This was after Jace allegedly threatened to kill Bitterman if she “went to war” over visitation — and after a friend of the first wife described in divorce records how the actor slammed Bitterman against a wall as then-6-month-old Jordan screamed in his nearby crib. 
   
   ndillon@nydailynews.com
target: – The Shield actor accused of murdering his wife was a pretty terrifying father, according to his ex-wife. During a 2004 custody case, Jennifer Bitterman said Michael Jace used an "intimidation style of discipline" on their young son, Jordan, according to court records obtained by the New York Daily News. Jace spanked him "for crying or being afraid," and once threatened him for "failing to stand up to his stepbrother," Bitterman said, adding that Jordan was afraid to be alone with his father and once called her "inconsolably sobbing" because Jace refused to take him home from an overnight visit. The court documents also reveal that, according to Bitterman, Jace threatened to kill her if she "went to war" over visitation with Jordan. And, the Los Angeles Times reports, another filing shows that one of Bitterman's friends testified that she saw at least four violent incidents between the couple before they divorced, including one in which Jace "choked and hit" Bitterman and then "slammed her against the wall"—as Jordan, then 6 months old, cried in his crib nearby. Jordan is now grown, but Jace's two young sons with April Jace were home when he allegedly killed their mother. Money problems may have been behind their fight.