A reportedly violent ex-husband in Texas has been arrested on Monday after he barged into his former wife's home and shot her four times early morning, the day they were slated to front court for a child custody hearing.
The suspect, Aaron B. Wright, of Harris County, faces burglary and aggravated assault charges following the latest series of grim violence against his ex-wife, Andrea Walker Wright.
Surveillance video shows that at around 3:08 a.m, the ex-husband and his current girlfriend approached Andrea's Memorial Crossing Drive home on Monday and then ran away two minutes later. The suspect then reportedly used the electrical box on the side of the home to cut off the woman's power supply.
The Wright suspect allegedly deliberately shut down power to disable the woman's home alarm system and avoid early detection before breaking in through a back window. He proceeded to attack the victim and shoot her four times while their children slept in the house. The kids, whose ages range from 5 to 12, survived the incident unscathed.
Responding officers arrived at the home near Memorial Falls Drive following the shooting and home invasion reports at around 3:30 a.m. The ex-wife was rushed to a nearby hospital and is now in a stable condition after she underwent at least one surgery, her current partner said.
The attack comes just a few hours away before the former husband and wife were set to face court for a child custody hearing. According to KAKE, the Wright father currently pays child support for his children ages 7, 9, 11, and 13.
The Wrights' 11-year marriage dissolved in 2019, which reportedly sparked the husband's campaign of harassment against the woman. The man would habitually drive past the victim's house several times, as if he was monitoring her, according to the victim's friend Melissa Geoghagan.
The harassment had also caused anxiety issues for the ex-wife, who feared the husband would put a tracker on her car and a camera in her house.
“He started harassing her soon after she left, but even when they were married, he had financial control over her,” Geoghagan, a middle school teacher, told The Daily Beast. “He lost it after the divorce, but I think she was scared to confront him about it.”
In February 2020, Andrea obtained a temporary protective order against her violent partner, a sealed court docket indicates. However, 280th District Court Judge Barbara Stalder denied the motion to make the restraining order permanent eight months later. Since then, the woman had called police on the suspect multiple times but he was never arrested, Geoghagan asserted.
Between 2019 and 2020, the Wrights called law enforcement at least 13 times, according to Harris County Sheriff’s Office records. Most of the calls were made by the wife, frequently requesting welfare checks on her children during their stay at her former husband's home.
Since March this year, deputies have responded to three calls for service at her address, including one for a terroristic threat and another for a suspicious vehicle. The Wright suspect is believed to be involved in these reported offenses.
A judge granted the man $100,000 bail for a burglary charge and a $75,000 bond for an aggravated assault charge, ordering him to stay 200 feet away from his ex-wife's home. She slammed the suspect's deliberately scheming of the break-in after he used "techniques" to perform a horrendous crime, ABC13 noted.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the victim's family and friends to help defray her medical expenses.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
