Shooting Victim Records Attack By Mother-In-Law
TAMARAC (CBSMiami) – A South Florida grandmother is in jail for allegedly shooting her estranged son-in-law, and the entire incident was captured on cell phone video.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office, Salvatore Miglino, 39, of Boca Raton, went to the Tamarac home of Cheryl Hepner on Wednesday around 5 p.m. to pick up his 3-year-old son. A court order authorizes him to take custody of his child every Wednesday night.
Miglino, however, told police he expected a confrontation so he started the record button on his iPhone before he got out of the car. Hepner met Miglino outside of her home with the boy's pillow and bag and told him to come into the house because his father-in-law wanted to talk to him.
Miglino declined and when he asked for the pillow and bag, Hepner, 66, pulled a handgun out from behind the pillow and fired three shots at her son-in-law, according to BSO.
With the iPhone camera still rolling, it captured the violent, sudden attack.
Wounded in his ribcage and shoulder, Miglino landed on top of her in the front yard. On the recording, he is heard screaming, "I can't believe you did that. I can't believe you shot me." She uses profanity and repeatedly tells him to get off of her.
Afterward, she told authorities that Miglino had tried to shoot her but she knocked the gun out of his hand, picked it up and shot him instead.
Hepner: I tried to grab the gun and shoot. I don't know.
911: Did you guys scuffle for the gun?
HEpner: Yes he had me down on the floor on the ground outside.
911: Did he pull the gun on you or did you pull it on him?
Hepner: No he pulled the gun on me and he's got it and he drove away.
But Miglino told a 911 dispatcher a different story.
Miglino: Oh my God. I'm shot.
911: Ok
MIglino: I took the gun away from her. I have it.
911: Where are you shot?
Miglino: On my shoulder and on my side. I can't believe she shot me!
But detectives said she planned the attack.
Miglino was treated for his injuries at Broward General Hospital, and has since been released.
Police said that Miglino's three-year-old son was not at home at the time of the shooting. The boy was apparently off having pizza with his mother.
Hepner was taken into custody Thursday night and charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Broward County Judge John Hurley ruled that Hepner should remain locked up in the Broward County Jail without bond on a charge of attempted first degree murder.
"It does on the face of it look as if she attempted to lure him perhaps in the house so there'd be no witnesses to the shooting," Hurley said.
She is being held in BSO's Main Jail.
Broward Sheriff's Office spokesperson Dani Moschella said Miglino easily could have been killed.
"Apparently the gun jammed when she was shooting it and that might be the reason she stopped shooting when she did," Moschella said. "He's lucky to be alive."
BSO tells us the gun jammed on Hepner or else she may have kept firing at Miglino.
The arrest report says Hepner feared her son-in-law would kidnap her grandson and possibly take him to New York, then to "who knows where," she said.
Miglino's attorney told CBS 4 News that Miglino has a court order allowing him to take his son to New York for the holidays but that he has a round trip ticket. The attorney said Miglino is at home recovering and his son is with him.
BSO says Miglino was fortunate to follow his instincts.
"The victim knew that something wasn't right," Moschella said. "He knew that there would possibly be a confrontation, he had the foresight to hit record on his iPhone. Thank goodness he did."
