I wonder if he might have been pushed over the edge by the knowledge that if his wife prevailed in court, his career would be over.
I watched this story unfolding last night. My gut then -- and now -- is that he snapped when it all hit the court papers (she hadn't put it in legal form till the day before he shot her). I also think he put the kids in his car, returned to her car and gave her an ultimatum to recant what she'd put into the court papers and let their lives go back to "normal" < gack >. When she refused, Bam.
There was an awful lot of cover being given by the Tacoma PD last night, portraying Brame as such a good guy. < double gack > No wonder Mrs. Good Guy didn't report this to the police but waited to put it into the court papers.