Cops responded to bitter breakup a month before Loop murder-suicide

Officers were called to the home of a Tinley Park man and his fiancée about a month before he fatally shot her and took his own life in a Loop business last week, according to the suburban police department’s reports.

Richard Idrovo, 45, and Alma Hernandez, 44, were having a bitter breakup on July 16. Tinley Park Police went to their home, and he accused her of stealing his gun and a Rolex watch.

A month later, at 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 14, Idrovo shot Hernandez at the AmeriCash Loan store in the 100 block of West Van Buren near the Chicago Board of Trade. Then he killed himself, Chicago Police said.

Hernandez worked at the AmeriCash store and was a real estate saleswoman at Baird & Warner in west suburban La Grange.

Alma Hernandez | Baird & Warner photo

The families of Idrovo and Hernandez have said they don’t know what prompted the murder-suicide. But Tinley Park police records show they were going through a nasty split on July 16.

About 10:30 p.m. that night, officers responded to a call about a domestic disturbance. According to a police report, Hernandez told officers that she asked Idrovo’s sister and brother to come to the house to help her tell him she wanted to end her six-year relationship with Idrovo.

She told police Idrovo was locked in a bedroom where he kept two guns.

“It should be noted that Richard made no comments to harm himself or anyone else tonight,” an officer wrote in a Tinley Park police report obtained Thursday by the Chicago Sun-Times through a public records request.

“Alma was only looking for us to stand by while she gathered some of her belongings and left for the night,” the report said.

Idrovo accused Hernandez of stealing his .38-caliber revolver and a Rolex from a safe. She claimed he stole her work keys and her driver’s license.

Three days later, Idrovo’s mother called police when Hernandez returned with a U-Haul truck to remove her belongings. She admitted she had forced a door open to get her property and police allowed her to leave.

Tinley Park officers recommended that Idrovo obtain a civil order barring Hernandez from entering the home again.

According to the Chicago Police Department, Idrovo held a valid state permit to carry concealed firearms. Orders of protection were issued against Idrovo in the past, but they would not have barred him from receiving a permit, records show.

In 1994, an order of protection was entered against him and dismissed about a month later. He was arrested in 1997 on misdemeanor charges of assault and violating an order of protection, but that case was dismissed, too, records show.