Wheelchair-Bound Man In Rancho Cucamonga Allegedly Shoots Wife, Holds Her Hostage For Weeks

RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CBSLA.com) — A wheelchair-bound Rancho Cucamonga resident has been arrested for allegedly shooting his wife and then holding her hostage for weeks.

Michael Venegas, 38, denied his wife medical attention during the ordeal, according to police.

The couple's aluminum-covered back bedroom window always stood out to neighbor Brenna O'Sullivan. It's located in a quiet apartment complex in the 10000 block of

"It's kind of like aluminum tin foil. I don't know. I just figured light sensitivity or maybe they were renovating," O'Sullivan said.

Behind the aluminum was a 26-year-old woman nursing a gunshot wound to the chest.

Her paraplegic husband is suspected of shooting her and then holding her captive for nearly a month, police report.

"The couple got into some sort of an argument at home. She went into the other bedroom to pack up some stuff to leave for the night. He walked, wheeled in, and actually shot her with a 9mm gun," Rancho Cucamonga Police Department spokesperson Teresa McMahon said.

A female neighbor says she heard the couple arguing from time to time: "With him being in a wheelchair I didn't think of anything being too severe."

Seeing CSI investigators inside the apartment jogged neighbor Mo Aboufares' memory.

Aboufares says he heard a gun go off the same night the woman was shot and called police, who say they don't have a record of the call: "One night we were sleeping and then we heard this very distinctive gun shot, not like regular fireworks you know. It was very loud and very close."

The woman, afraid for her and her young son's life, stayed quiet for weeks. But on Sunday she'd had enough and went to the hospital with her wound and story.

The female neighbor gave CBS2/KCAL9's Crystal Cruz video of the SWAT team robot used Monday morning to get Venegas out of the apartment.

"They waited him out and pretty much broke in the door," she said.

That same neighbor wished she would've called police the first time she heard fighting a while back: "A lot of regret on not calling when I was at my breaking point."

Venegas was arrested and faces charges of attempted murder, false imprisonment and kidnapping.

The wife's condition was not given.