An Ohio man has been found guilty of attempting to murder his ex-wife after he allegedly tried to shoot her as she ate with her family at a Toledo restaurant last year. The terrifying confrontation was captured on restaurant surveillance video.
Matthew Exton, 43, a former attorney, was having a drink at Souk restaurant on April 11, 2025, when he saw his ex-wife, Kada Malone, having dinner with her parents at nearby Italian restaurant Sabira, according to the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office.
Exton went into Sabira, ordered a drink for Malone’s table, spat in their direction and then left the restaurant, prosecutors said.
Restaurant security video shows Exton later returning with a handgun. He brought the weapon within inches of Malone’s head and pulled the trigger as she raised her hands in front of her face, according to authorities.
The gun did not discharge.
Matthew Exton points a gun at the head of his ex-wife, Kada Malone, while sitting in a Toledo restaurant with her parents on April 11, 2025. (Viral Press)
Prosecutors said the weapon failed to fire because its safety remained on. Before Exton could make another attempt, a waiter tackled him from behind.
Authorities said the handgun contained one round in the chamber and seven additional bullets in the magazine.
“The defendant did not come with the intention of having a meal. He came with anger in him and with the intention to commit a public execution of his ex-wife at the restaurant that day,” Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney Julia R. Bates said in a statement. “The employees and patrons who stepped in to stop the defendant that day are heroes.”
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Bates also praised the jury that convicted Exton on Sept. 4 of attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault and two firearm specifications connected to all three charges.
Matthew Exton’s booking photo, dated April 12, 2025, the day after he walked into a Toledo restaurant and tried to gun down his ex-wife Kada Malone. (Lucas County Sheriff’s Office)
The two counts of felonious assault applied to Malone’s parents, Jeannie Malone and Charles Malone.
The day the jury handed down their guilty verdict, Exton had an outburst in the courtroom and had to be removed.
During the prosecutor’s closing arguments, they pointed to a voicemail Exton left for Malone prior to the attempted shooting that referenced the Johnny Cash lyric “Sooner or later God will cut you down,” WTOL 11 reported.
Prosecutors said the message was an instance of threatening behavior that spoke to Exton’s motive and state of mind ahead of the crime.
Exton, who appeared to take issue with the prosecutor’s framing of the voicemail, then began screaming the lyrics to “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” as court officers removed him. At another point, he made a gun-like gesture with his fingers and pointed it at assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Rose Mock.
The jury was instructed by the judge to disregard Exton’s conduct and not let it impact their deliberations.
Exton, a former lawyer and local prosecutor, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21, 2026.