2 days ago
Florida man's shocking excuse for shooting ex-mother-in-law in head with homemade gun
A Florida man claimed he shot his ex-mother-in-law in the head with a homemade gun in self-defense.
Bilal Ismail, 49, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder for the April shooting.
Ismail is accused of shooting his ex-wife's mother, who is in her 60s, outside her Miami Gardens home, reported NBC 6.
Miami Gardens Police said Ismail allegedly snuck into the home, cut the internet wires to prevent the security cameras from recording, and then shot the woman.
He fled the scene in a blue pickup truck and was arrested the next day at a nearby gas station after police caught him driving a silver Toyota RAV4.
However, Ismail's lawyers claimed he acted in self-defense because the woman allegedly attacked him.
Officer Gary Florencio testified in court that the bullet fired from Ismail's homemade gun went through the victim's forehead and into her lungs.
'She looked up and saw him with the gun pointed at her, and I believe she said he called her (expletive) in Spanish,' Florencio said the woman told him.
Ismail's ex, Claudia Quintero, testified in April that she was in an abusive relationship and they had separated in August, according to WSVM.
'He said, "I want to kill your mother,"' Quintero told the court through a translator. 'I'm afraid for my children's lives, my family's life, and my sister's life.'
Quintero claimed that Ismail had been stalking her since they broke up, and he had even placed a tracker in her car.
'He has been following me. He has been using the GPS to track my car. He knew where I was at that point, and he went in through an open door that he knew was open. He knew my mom was going to be alone,' she said.
Florencio said Ismail admitted to having issues with the woman and claimed she was trying to get her daughter to move on from him.
'Basically, he did everything he needed to do for her and the kids, but after the money was gone, that's when she decided to kick him out, and that the mother-in-law was also involved in that,' the police officer said.
Ismail's lawyers have insisted their client acted in self-defense and sought to get him on house arrest before trial.
Family members, including another ex-wife and brother, told the judge he could stay with them.
However, the judge denied his request for bond. According to the local news station, Ismail was arrested for selling synthetic marijuana in 2016.
'He went to that home, he cut the internet wires, he crouched to get into the home in a way to avoid detention,' the judge said.
'He then entered the home, and we saw in the video the two shots he fired at [the victim]. He then left the resident, locked the door, made sure the door was locked and walked away as if nothing ever happened.'
