http://www.wnbc.com/news/2017152/detail.html
Cop Allegedly Shot Woman After She Sought Restraining Order
POSTED: 7:34 a.m. EST March 4, 2003
UPDATED: 7:14 p.m. EST March 4, 2003
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- A police officer shot his estranged girlfriend minutes after she filed papers for a restraining order against him, then killed himself with a single shot to his head, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio said.
Cop Allegedly Shoots Woman
Officer Julio Reyes fired five times at Omayra Soberal about 9:15 p.m. Monday as she sat in the back of a marked police car outside the West District precinct with officers who were to take her back to her home, DeFazio said.
Reyes used his 9mm semiautomatic service handgun and was killed immediately, the prosecutor said.
Soberal, 35, of Jersey City, was in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center on Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Sally Deering said.
Soberal sought the restraining order because she said Reyes was harassing her, DeFazio said.
Reyes, who would have been 45 on Wednesday, had been a law officer for about 14 years, first with the Hudson County Sheriff's Department, and then with the Jersey City police, DeFazio said.
Officers inside the West District station house declined to talk about the incident or their former colleague on Tuesday. Outside, yellow police tape hung from a lamp post along Communipaw Avenue, in front of the abandoned brick building next to the station house where the curbside shootings occurred.
DeFazio said Reyes was assigned to the West District and was on duty at the time of the shooting, although he was not at the station house when Soberal actually filled out her request for the restraining order.
DeFazio said he was unaware of any state or departmental policy that would have called for Soberal to be taken to another station house. The officers who handled her request acted properly, he said.
He also said Soberal lived in the West District and was aware that she would be taken to the district station house to fill out the complaint. There was no indication of any physical violence in the relationship, DeFazio said. Rather, Reyes wanted to continue the relationship and Soberal did not.
"He was called after all the paperwork was finished, to be served with the restraining order, so that he wouldn't go back to her residence," DeFazio explained. "Apparently, she had already left the station house and gone back to the car and was ready to leave, and he ran out and did what he did. Needless to say, things happened very, very quickly.
"I will say this, in my over 20 years in prosecution, I've never seen anybody resort to this sort of violence in front of uniformed, armed police officers, whether he's a cop or not a cop," DeFazio said. He noted that two officers were in the front seat of the patrol car when Reyes ran up, opened the back door, fired at Soberal, then immediately shot himself.
"It's an extraordinarily chain of events," DeFazio said. "They're trying to do the right thing in driving her home, and nobody thought it was going to escalate to this type of violence."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Cop Allegedly Shot Woman After She Sought Restraining Order
POSTED: 7:34 a.m. EST March 4, 2003
UPDATED: 7:14 p.m. EST March 4, 2003
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- A police officer shot his estranged girlfriend minutes after she filed papers for a restraining order against him, then killed himself with a single shot to his head, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio said.
Cop Allegedly Shoots Woman
Officer Julio Reyes fired five times at Omayra Soberal about 9:15 p.m. Monday as she sat in the back of a marked police car outside the West District precinct with officers who were to take her back to her home, DeFazio said.
Reyes used his 9mm semiautomatic service handgun and was killed immediately, the prosecutor said.
Soberal, 35, of Jersey City, was in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center on Tuesday, hospital spokeswoman Sally Deering said.
Soberal sought the restraining order because she said Reyes was harassing her, DeFazio said.
Reyes, who would have been 45 on Wednesday, had been a law officer for about 14 years, first with the Hudson County Sheriff's Department, and then with the Jersey City police, DeFazio said.
Officers inside the West District station house declined to talk about the incident or their former colleague on Tuesday. Outside, yellow police tape hung from a lamp post along Communipaw Avenue, in front of the abandoned brick building next to the station house where the curbside shootings occurred.
DeFazio said Reyes was assigned to the West District and was on duty at the time of the shooting, although he was not at the station house when Soberal actually filled out her request for the restraining order.
DeFazio said he was unaware of any state or departmental policy that would have called for Soberal to be taken to another station house. The officers who handled her request acted properly, he said.
He also said Soberal lived in the West District and was aware that she would be taken to the district station house to fill out the complaint. There was no indication of any physical violence in the relationship, DeFazio said. Rather, Reyes wanted to continue the relationship and Soberal did not.
"He was called after all the paperwork was finished, to be served with the restraining order, so that he wouldn't go back to her residence," DeFazio explained. "Apparently, she had already left the station house and gone back to the car and was ready to leave, and he ran out and did what he did. Needless to say, things happened very, very quickly.
"I will say this, in my over 20 years in prosecution, I've never seen anybody resort to this sort of violence in front of uniformed, armed police officers, whether he's a cop or not a cop," DeFazio said. He noted that two officers were in the front seat of the patrol car when Reyes ran up, opened the back door, fired at Soberal, then immediately shot himself.
"It's an extraordinarily chain of events," DeFazio said. "They're trying to do the right thing in driving her home, and nobody thought it was going to escalate to this type of violence."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
