Police: Cudahy man charged with homicide in death of 65-year-old woman
Olger Qatipi
CUDAHY - Olger Qatipi, 45, of Cudahy has been charged with one count of second-degree reckless homicide in the death of a 65-year-old woman on Friday, July 24.
Police were called to a residence near Lunham Avenue and Swift Avenue in Cudahy around 10:15 p.m. that Friday. There, they found the victim unresponsive in the bathroom with an apparent gunshot wound. After lifesaving attempts were made, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to a criminal complaint, Qatipi told officers that he heard a knocking on a window or door at the residence and thought it was an intruder. He told officers that he got his gun, saw a shadow in the bathroom and fired shots toward the bathroom window – thinking the shadow was outside.
The victim was not, in fact, an intruder – it was Qatipi’s mother, who also lived there. An autopsy revealed that she suffered two gunshot wounds.
Scene of Cudahy shooting near Lunham and Swift Avenues
Another resident of the home told police that she, too, heard a pounding noise and that the Qatipi got up to search the house, in the dark, where he then noticed the bathroom door was ajar and saw the shadow. When Qatipi realized who the victim was, the complaint states, he became “emotional” and was “jumping up and down in shock and regret.”
Police found no signs of forced entry, vandalism, theft or damage to the home or yard. Neighbors did not notice anything out of the ordinary.
A preliminary hearing the case is scheduled for Aug. 6.