A 64-year-old man shot his wife in the abdomen while the two were arguing over financial issues during a Christmas party at their Lancaster home, a sheriff’s deputy said Saturday.
Paramedics rushed the man’s wife to an area hospital, where she was described as having stable life signs, said Deputy Miguel Ruiz of the sheriff’s Lancaster station.
Deputies were dispatched at 12:30 a.m. Christmas morning to the residence in the 2700 block of East Avenue J-4 and came upon Thomas Silas in the front yard, still holding his handgun, Ruiz said.
Silas cooperated with the deputies’ orders to drop the handgun and he was detained without further incident, he said.
Earlier, Silas had gotten into an argument with his wife about financial issues, he said.
“The suspect retrieved a handgun from inside his home and confronted his wife by telling her to shoot him with it,” he said. “She declined so the suspect shot her in the abdomen.”
Ruiz said the couple’s adult daughter and other family members were in the home for a holiday party.
Silas was transported to the Lancaster station jail and charged with attempted murder and domestic violence. He was being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
He was transferred Friday to the North County Correctional Facility, and will appear in court Monday in Division 139 of the North Valley Municipal Court in San Fernando.
—City News Service