RACER X
07-22-2009, 10:21 AM
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/conroe/news/6539905.html
Willis man mistakes wife for intruder, shoots her
Sarah Beth Rogers Hanel was returning to bed in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning when authorities say her husband mistook her for an intruder and shot her in the chest.
Hanel, 27, of Willis, a Sam Houston State University employee, survived and is in stable condition at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. Her husband of nearly two years, Justin Ryan Hanel, 24, has not been charged.
Through a hospital spokesperson, the couple and their family declined to talk about the incident Tuesday.
The shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when Sarah Hanel was shot once in the chest at the couple's home in the 9000 block of Zapata Way.
Deputies arrived to find Justin Hanel trying to help his wounded wife in the master bathroom of their home, investigators said.
The woman had gotten up to go to the bathroom just before the shooting, said Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Dan Norris. Her husband became alarmed when he saw a figure in the hallway.
“The husband thought his wife was (still) in bed, by what he could see in the darkness,” Norris said. “Apparently, it all happened fairly quickly.”
Justin Hanel told officers that he fired a handgun several times. Afterward, he realized the person he believed to be an intruder was actually his wife, investigators said.
His wife was taken by medical helicopter to Houston, where she is recovering.
The case will be forwarded to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office for review, investigators said.
“There are no indications that this was anything more than what it looked like,” Norris said. “But it's still under investigation, and a final determination will be made.”
The couple married in August 2007, records show. They have no children, Norris said.
Sarah Hanel has been employed for a year as the programming coordinator for Sam Houston State University's Student Health Center, university officials said. She has a master's degree from Texas A&M University's School of Rural Public Health and previously worked as a patient educator for Scott & White Clinic.
Willis man mistakes wife for intruder, shoots her
Sarah Beth Rogers Hanel was returning to bed in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning when authorities say her husband mistook her for an intruder and shot her in the chest.
Hanel, 27, of Willis, a Sam Houston State University employee, survived and is in stable condition at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. Her husband of nearly two years, Justin Ryan Hanel, 24, has not been charged.
Through a hospital spokesperson, the couple and their family declined to talk about the incident Tuesday.
The shooting happened around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday when Sarah Hanel was shot once in the chest at the couple's home in the 9000 block of Zapata Way.
Deputies arrived to find Justin Hanel trying to help his wounded wife in the master bathroom of their home, investigators said.
The woman had gotten up to go to the bathroom just before the shooting, said Montgomery County sheriff's Lt. Dan Norris. Her husband became alarmed when he saw a figure in the hallway.
“The husband thought his wife was (still) in bed, by what he could see in the darkness,” Norris said. “Apparently, it all happened fairly quickly.”
Justin Hanel told officers that he fired a handgun several times. Afterward, he realized the person he believed to be an intruder was actually his wife, investigators said.
His wife was taken by medical helicopter to Houston, where she is recovering.
The case will be forwarded to the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office for review, investigators said.
“There are no indications that this was anything more than what it looked like,” Norris said. “But it's still under investigation, and a final determination will be made.”
The couple married in August 2007, records show. They have no children, Norris said.
Sarah Hanel has been employed for a year as the programming coordinator for Sam Houston State University's Student Health Center, university officials said. She has a master's degree from Texas A&M University's School of Rural Public Health and previously worked as a patient educator for Scott & White Clinic.