CHICAGO
Officer Dannie Marchan, 29, was trying to get his wife back, family members told the Chicago Tribune this week.
The off-duty Chicago police officer shot and killed himself Monday after shooting his two children, killing one.
Police believe Marchan was having a domestic dispute with his ex-wife when the shooting occured. The officer divorced in 2005 and shared custody of his two children, according to court records.
Police surmised that he shot his son and daughter, and then turned the gun on himself Monday.
His daughter, 7-year-old Alizay, died from a gunshot wound to her head. Her 9-year-old brother was recovering Tuesday at a hospital.
Police said Marchan had been with the department about four years. He was off-duty when the shootings happened Monday morning.
The Tribune reported Wednesday that the 29-year-old was the youngest of eight children, raised in Pilsen. His family was stunned by Monday's events, saying there had been no indication that their youngest sibling would become violent.
"I know he wanted to get back together (with his wife) for the kids' sake. He really loved her a lot," the shooter's brother, Javier Marchan, said. But a a reunion didn't appear likely, he added.
Javier Marchan told the Tribune that his brother had wanted to be a police officer since he was a kid.
On Monday, ofiicers and a SWAT team responded to a "shots fired" call at the officer's home in the Brighton Park neighborhood at about 10:45 a.m., department spokeswoman Monique Bond said.
When officers arrived, a woman outside told them that there were children in the one-story brick house and that she'd heard shots.
"You could hear moans from within the residence," First Deputy Superintendent James Jackson said.
SWAT officers rushed into the house, finding the dead officer with an apparent self-inflicted shot to his head. The two children were found in separate area of the home. Bond said it appeared that all had been shot with the same handgun.
The children were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where the boy remained in critical condition Tuesday.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said Alizay Marchan was pronounced dead at 11:52 a.m. Monday.
Police said the officer who took his own life lived at the house, but they did not know if the two children lived there as well. Officials with the city's Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates all police shootings, also were on scene.
Jonathan Arenas, 26, who lives two blocks away, said he was walking by the residence when he saw SWAT officers rush into the building. He said he also saw blood on the two children as paramedics brought them out on stretchers.
"All the cops were running back and forth," Arenas said. "That's when they took the two children."
The officer's estranged wife was not in the home at the time of the shooting.
More Information: http://www.congoo.com/news/2008September16/Cops-name-officer-shot-family
1 comment:
He called his wife while he shot the kids so she could hear it over the phone
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