Saint Paul Man Charged After Woman Shot Inside Her Home

Aug 13

A Saint Paul man is charged with first-degree assault after police say he shot a woman through a kitchen window while two young children were inside the home earlier this week.

According to a criminal complaint, officers were called to the 1600 block of Suburban Avenue just before noon Monday for a report of a shooting.

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They arrived to find a 38-year-old woman with a life-threatening gunshot wound to the right side of her upper torso. Medics rushed her to Regions Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery. Authorities say two children, ages 9 and 1, were in the living room and appeared frightened due to the incident.

The 9-year-old told police she heard knocking and saw her father, Rene Martinez, 39, standing in the backyard near the kitchen window. She said her mother yelled not to let him inside. The two argued before Martinez broke the window and grabbed a handgun from the kitchen table. The girl said her younger sister fell, and as she went to help, she heard a gunshot and saw her mother had been shot. She told police Martinez never entered the house but reached through the window with the gun.

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A teenage boy in the home also reported hearing the gunshot. Police found a small black Smith & Wesson handgun on the kitchen table, along with a holster, magazine, and two live rounds. The teen told officers he made the gun safe before they arrived.

While police were still on scene, Martinez called dispatch, claiming the woman may have shot herself. He admitted going to the house to pick up his son and acknowledged knowing he was prohibited from being there under a court order. He later returned to the scene and was arrested. Investigators say Martinez declined to give a statement after being read his Miranda rights.

Court records show an Extreme Risk Protection Order issued in March required Martinez to surrender his firearms. A Domestic Abuse No Contact Order issued in July barred him from having any contact with the victim.

In an interview from her hospital bed Wednesday, the woman told police Martinez showed up uninvited, prompting her to grab a gun and order him to leave. She said she set the gun down to tend to her youngest child, and Martinez grabbed it through the window and shot her.

Police say audio from a neighbor’s doorbell camera captured parts of the argument, including a male voice yelling insults, the sound of a child screaming, rustling noises consistent with the damaged blinds on the kitchen window, and then a single gunshot. Afterward, a child can be heard saying, “You shot her,” followed by a male voice insisting, “I didn’t do nothing.”

Martinez has a prior domestic assault conviction involving the same victim. If convicted in this case, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. He remains in custody.

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