Crime & Law

Chicago Man Charged After Shooting During Albany Park Standoff Left SWAT Officer, Woman Injured

A Chicago man is facing nearly a dozen felony charges following a shooting during an alleged standoff in the Albany Park neighborhood Monday that left a woman and a SWAT officer injured.

Daniel Aguirre, 42, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, two counts each of aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful restraint, as well as additional charges of aggravated assault of a peace officer and aggravated discharge of a firearm inside an occupied building.

He appeared in Cook County court Wednesday where a judge ordered him detained in jail pending trial.

According to Chicago police, Aguirre shot and critically wounded a 67-year-old woman at a residence in the 4600 block of North Springfield Avenue before holding two other people — a 14-year-old girl and 42-year-old woman — hostage inside.

According to a proffer presented Wednesday by Cook County prosecutors, Aguirre lives at that address in a second-floor apartment with his longtime partner and their 14-year-old daughter. The partner’s mother lives below them in the first-floor apartment.

Prosecutors alleged Aguirre had become increasingly paranoid since May and has accused his partner of cheating on him and having him followed. That led to a confrontation Sunday in which Aguirre allegedly headbutted his partner.

The following morning, Aguirre accused the woman of poisoning him and pointed a gun at her head before grabbing his daughter and beating her in the head as she attempted to flee, prosecutors said.

Aguirre allegedly continued beating his daughter and his partner when she attempted to intervene and then held the pair at gunpoint in their apartment’s living room.

When the partner’s mother heard a commotion upstairs, she and another family member attempted to get inside the apartment, but received no answer when they knocked on the door, prosecutors said.

When the mother tried knocking a second time, Aguirre allegedly fired through the closed door multiple times, striking her once in the face. After commenting that he still had eight bullets left in his gun, Aguirre allegedly told his partner, “one for me, two for you. That means I can kill five of them,” according to the proffer.

When Chicago police officers arrived on scene and pulled the injured woman away from the apartment, Aguirre allegedly opened fire again from inside, but struck no one, prosecutors said.

The CPD SWAT team then arrived and formulated a plan to breach the door and save the woman and her daughter inside, prosecutors said. One of those officers struck the apartment door with a battering ram twice, and when he attempted to do so a third time, Aguirre allegedly fired again, striking the officer in the abdomen, according to prosecutors.

After speaking with police and hostage negotiators over the phone, Aguirre eventually released his daughter, and later his partner. He was then taken into custody and police recovered a firearm and two ammunition magazines, prosecutors said.

Interim Police Supt. Fred Waller said the officer has undergone surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. The woman who was shot was hospitalized in critical condition, while the two hostages were both treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Police allegedly identified nine bullet holes through the apartment’s front door and another nine in a kitchen wall. Following his arrest, Aguirre allegedly admitted to the shootings.

According to prosecutors, Aguirre has twice been arrested for domestic battery, once in 2004 and again in 2008, but both cases were subsequently dismissed.

He is due back in court for a hearing Aug. 12.

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