A woman has been arrested in Arizona after she allegedly shot a 4-year-old boy in the face over a breakup she’d had with the young child’s uncle.
Joanna Chalup Cortez was charged in connection with the shooting of a 4-year-old boy on Tuesday, January 6, at a home in south Phoenix, Arizona, according to a media release from the Phoenix Police Department. The incident reportedly took place over a dispute relating to a breakup, according to family and witness testimonies and court documents viewed by ABC 15 and AZ Family.
Phoenix Police said that authorities discovered the child with a gunshot wound after they arrived at the home around 12:19 p.m.
Family members said that the bullet passed through the child’s cheek and knocked out multiple teeth, according to ABC 15. Additionally, a witness told FOX 10 that the bullet entered the left side of the child’s face. The victim’s family members also confirmed to AZ Family that he is expected to make a full recovery.
Police said in the news release that the boy was hospitalized with “serious injuries.” Chalup Cortez, 29, was in a relationship with the victim’s uncle and was at the home on January 6 prior to the shooting. After she left the residence, she returned later that day and the shooting took place, according to court records cited by ABC 15 and AZ Family.
The victim’s mother was reportedly with Chalup Cortez and a different woman — who was identified as Chalup Cortez’s current boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend — before the shooting, according to AZ Family. Chalup Cortez reportedly got into an argument with the two women before she called her boyfriend and kicked him out of her house, per the outlet.
Chalup Cortez later grew angry by a social media livestream that involved the victim’s father, Meishaq Sinclair, and her boyfriend. She then drove back to the home and started honking her car horn and demanding that someone come outside, according to AZ Family.
Sinclair told the outlet that Chalup Cortez then pulled out what appeared to be a rifle before she started shooting toward the home.
Chalup Cortez’s boyfriend was heading to the front door of the home when the gunshots went off, according to ABC 15. The victim was near the door as he tried to follow his uncle outside, according to Meishaq.
“My son, he thought when my brother was going outside, he thought it was time to go outside and grabbed his scooter,” Meishaq told AZ family.
Meishaq told ABC 15 that he was upstairs when he heard the gun go off, and he quickly came downstairs to find his child “bleeding so much it was like a movie.”
Chalup Cortez reportedly threatened the victim’s mother prior to the shooting, with ABC 15 and AZ Family reporting that she said she would “shoot up the house.” After the shooting took place, Chalup Cortez reportedly contacted the child’s mom and insisted she didn’t know that the victim was near the door.
Chalup Cortez turned herself in to law enforcement on Wednesday, January 7. She is now facing multiple charges including aggravated assault and discharging a firearm at a residence, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing. However, the department said that detectives “do not believe that there are any additional suspects.”
It is not currently clear if Chalup Cortez has retained legal counsel or entered a plea.
