Hartford Man Killed Wednesday Had History Of Violence Against Women
WEST HARTFORD The 23-year-old Hartford man shot and killed by a woman who said he had repeatedly threatened to kill her and her children had a history of violence toward women, records show.
Jose A. Mendez, also known as "Bebo," had served prison time for assaulting a girlfriend in Hartford and had a case pending against him in connection with a similar incident in East Hartford.
In both of those cases, police said, Mendez threatened to kill the girlfriends and their children. In the Hartford case, he subsequently violated a criminal protective order that he stay at least 100 yards from the woman and her child. Police noted in both cases that the women expressed genuine fear of Mendez.
The woman in the Hartford case was "genuinely afraid that her life was in peril," an officer noted in a report.
http://www.courant.com/community/plainville/hc-west-hartford-manslaughter-0412-20140411,0,5956572.story
BACKGROUND:
Woman Claims Self-Defense In Fatal West Hartford Shooting
WEST HARTFORD A 27-year-old Plainville woman charged with manslaughter in a fatal shooting Wednesday night on Prospect Avenue told police she shot her boyfriend in self-defense after he threatened to kill her and her family, according to court documents.
Angela Grasso-Cunha said Jose Mendez, 23, who she had been dating for a few weeks, accused her of cheating and repeatedly threatened her life and that of her family as they rode in his car, according to a West Hartford police report.