A Chicago police officer shot her husband to death as they struggled over a gun that she had threatened to kill herself with when they argued at their Northwest Side home, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.
Jacqueline Villasenor, 39, was arguing with her husband, also a CPD officer, about 7 p.m. Tuesday at their house in the 8500 block of West Winona Street when she pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot herself, prosecutors told Judge Susana Ortiz.
German Villasenor, 44, grabbed for the weapon and a struggle over the 9-mm handgun ensued, prosecutors said. As he tried to take the weapon, German Villasenor was shot in the chest; the bullet pierced his heart and exited his back before lodging in a wall, prosecutors said.
The couple’s 16-year-old son heard the shot and went to his parents’ upstairs bedroom, where he found his father lying on his back and his mother performing CPR, prosecutors said.
Jacqueline Villasenor told her son to get her medical kit bag from her car and call 911, which the boy did, prosecutors said.
An off-duty officer heard the radio call that an officer had been shot and was the first on the scene, prosecutors said. Jacqueline Villasenor allegedly told him about the argument, which she said was over a previous affair she had, and the struggle over the gun when she threatened suicide.
That officer noted that Jacqueline Villasenor had a smell of alcohol on her breath, prosecutors said. She allegedly refused to submit to an alcohol breath test to determine her level of intoxication.
Local
German Villasenor was taken to Lutheran General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Jacqueline Villasenor was charged with a count of involuntary manslaughter. If she is convicted, she can be given probation or 3 to 14 years in prison.
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In addition to her son, Jacqueline Villasenor has an adult daughter, her attorney Tim Grace told the judge.
All firearms were removed from the house by Chicago police after the shooting, Grace said.
The judge first ordered Jacqueline Villasenor’s held at $100,000 bail but then lowered it to $50,000 when Grace said he only knew she had enough money to post bond on that amount.
Ortiz additionally told Villasenor she couldn’t consume any intoxicants while on bond and to turn over any firearm licenses and ammunition still in her possession to police.
Villasenor is expected back in court Nov. 23.
