A Cook County correctional officer had previously shown “violent behavior” and should not have had access to the service weapon that she used to shoot her ex-girlfriend and the woman’s father before turning it on herself last year in southwest suburban Bridgeview, a lawsuit alleges.
Erika Aguirre, 28, broke into the basement of Deisy Jaimes’ family’s home late Nov. 15, 2015, shot the 27-year-old woman in the left eye, and then shot her father Enrique Jaimes in the back, according to the suit filed by the family Monday against the Cook County sheriff’s office.
Aguirre, a four-year veteran of the Cook County Jail’s intake division, then fatally shot herself in the head in the kitchen of the home in Bridgeview’s 7200 block of South Roberts Road, authorities said at the time.
The suit claims Aguirre had been suspended twice for insubordination and “violent behavior and outbursts” at the jail, including two months before the shooting when she threatened another correctional officer.
The family says the sheriff’s office should have known Aguirre was undergoing anger management counseling and “lacked an appropriate mindset” to carry a gun, the suit says.
“We are aware of the lawsuit and are carefully reviewing its allegations. The safety of our staff and the public is our highest priority,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said in an email.
Deisy Jaimes, who ended a years-long relationship with Aguirre months before the shooting, suffered permanent brain damage, and her 52-year-old father is unable to walk without assistance due to spinal cord damage, the suit says.
The three-count suit seeks more than $150,000 in damages.
