A Munster man is facing multiple charges including attempted murder after allegedly shooting his wife in the face in front of their seven-year-old son as she was trying to leave their house Saturday night.
Munster Police officers responded at about 9:45 p.m. on July 11 to the 9300 block of Chestnut Lane for a possible shooting, the Post-Tribune previously reported. They found upon arrival a woman with a gunshot to the face and the suspected shooter still inside the house, the release said.
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After police responded to the call in which the victim said she’d been shot in the face, the woman, according to court records, told police that she was trying to leave with her seven-year-old son but her husband, 43-year-old Hector M. Toro, didn’t want them to leave. He followed them out to her SUV and started to bang on the window with a handgun when the gun “went off,” a probable cause affidavit said.
The officer then asked her whether the gun had gone off accidentally; she said, “No, he was trying to hurt me,” records said, adding that she told her son to run to a neighbor’s house.
The Northwest Regional SWAT arrived shortly after Munster Police and took Toro into custody, records said. During a cursory sweep of the house after his arrest, SWAT members saw a handgun, later identified as a black Hi-Point 9mm with a loaded magazine and “a locked back slide with a visible malfunction in the chamber” after officers obtained search warrants, according to the affidavit.
A bullet was also found on the front passenger floorboard after it appeared to have hit the front passenger seat and door, records said.
The victim later told police — after she’d been transferred to the University of Chicago Hospital — that she’d left the house at around 8 p.m that night to get her car washed after Toro had been drinking and verbally assaulting her throughout the day, records said. She returned home to Toro accusing her of cheating and calling her names. She also said Toro has been physically abusive with her and that they’re in the process of getting divorced, court records said.
As she and the boy were attempting to leave, Toro got angry and grabbed his gun out of a safe in their bedroom, records said. He followed them out to the car, and as she attempted to back out of the driveway, her window exploded after a loud noise, and she saw blood coming from her face.
Home security camera footage showed that at 9:42 p.m. July 11, the victim was opening the door and saying “Come on,” to her son, who’s crying in the background. A man, presumed to be Toro, is heard saying “Nope,” to which the woman replied, “Hey, you have a gun dude,” records said.
Footage time-stamped a minute later showed the victim leaving the home followed by Toro, who officers said racked his gun and said, “I’m gonna shoot (unintelligible).” As he walks out after them, the footage shows the boy walking out the door and Toro calling out to him, then the boy running away from Toro toward his mother after Toro approached him with the gun in his hand, records said.
A witness told police that he’d heard a woman first shouting, “Help me! Help me!” then saw a woman standing next to her vehicle in a driveway and a man walking back into the home, records said. The witness said the woman said, “My husband shot me in the face!” moments before police arrived.
Toro, when Munster detectives went to interview him in custody, told them he and his son were playing video games when his wife came home around 9 p.m. and said she wanted to take their son, which caused him to “freak out,” according to records. He then told police that he grabbed his gun from a locked safe in his bedroom and began to chase her.
When detectives asked if he threatened his wife with the gun or pointed it at her, Toro said he “thinks he needs a lawyer,” records said.
Toro was also charged with aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony; domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon and intimidation, both Level 5 felonies; and domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16-years-old and neglect of a dependent, both Level 6 felonies, according to court records. He remains in the Lake County Jail after Lake County Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan denied him bond.