Palatine man charged with fatally shooting girlfriend
A man has been charged in the shooting death of his girlfriend in suburban Palatine.
On Nov. 29, officers responded to a well-being check in the 1700 block of North Hicks Road and found 42-year-old Fatima Lizeth Escalante Matamoros with a gunshot wound to the head about 11:30 p.m., the Palatine Police Department said.
Escalante Matamoros was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Immediately after the shooting, officers identified her boyfriend, 43-year-old Sergio Velasquez Fuentes, as a person of interest.
Velasquez Fuentes fled the scene but was found the following day by Streamwood police and turned over to Palatine detectives.
On Dec. 2, Velasquez Fuentes was released from police custody without charges, but remained a person of interest, police said.
Palatine police obtained an arrest warrant for Velasquez Fuentes on Dec. 13, but they learned he was in federal custody on an unrelated case, police said.
Palatine detectives arrested Velasquez Fuentes on Monday. He was charged with first-degree murder.
He is expected to appear in court Jan. 29.