He gunned down his wife after stalking her to carpool pickup. Her coworker narrowly made it out alive
A woman was shot and killed by her husband in Oklahoma after he blocked her car while she was waiting at a carpool pick-up.
Logan County Sheriff’s officials said Catalina Jimenez, 43, was waiting at a carpool to give a coworker a ride on Monday when her husband used his car to block her vehicle. He then fired two shots through her window, killing her.
The husband, Jose Alaniz, 51, then shot himself.
Both people were pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators said the couple’s young child was at home during the shooting and was not harmed.
Court documents filed in Logan County show that Jimenez had filed an emergency order of protection against Alaniz in November. The order was granted on May 24, according to KOCO.
Logan County Sheriff Damon Deveraux told reporters deputies responded to domestic calls about Alaniz in the past.
“I know that we’ve been out here on domestics to the people that were involved before. There’s kind of a pattern of domestic abuse, and I think he was recently arrested within the last several months for domestic by strangulation,” Devereaux said.
Jimenez filed for the protective order after the strangulation incident, according to Devereaux.
A neighbor told KOCO that deputies were always visiting the couple’s home.
“We’re so used to police and the Logan County Sheriff and all of them being out here. We hardly pay attention anymore,” the neighbor, Berl Stinson, said.
Stinson said the community had seen “four or five murders out here” over the past 44 years.
The coworker that Jimenez was picking up was not harmed in the shooting. Law enforcement said the coworker was in the vehicle when the shooting happened but managed to escape out of the passenger door before Alaniz reached her.
“She was just along for the ride to go to work. She doesn’t have any part in the actions of either one of these two people,” Devereaux said. “We understand the emotional situation that’s going on, too, with the family.”
He said the woman was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution, according to News 9.
“I’ve never been in a situation like that, but I can’t imagine the terror she would be feeling of being involved that close to something like that,” Devereaux said. “I’m sure she felt like her life was about to end.”
