Guam March 28 2011 A corrections officer who is facing attempted murder charges because he allegedly marched down Route 4 firing 26 gunshots -- including three at a police car -- was threatening suicide in the hours before the incident, his wife said yesterday.
John Paul Taijeron Jr., 31, is being held on $100,000 bail after being officially charged in the Superior Court of Guam yesterday.
In court, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Leon Guerrero argued a high bail was necessary because the corrections officer is a "flight risk."
"This defendant is facing very serious charges with potential for a lengthy jail sentence," Leon Guerrero said. "The special allegation alone carries a minimum of five to 25 years incarceration."
When the court hearing was over, the corrections officer's wife, Leilani S. Taijeron, said her husband was a "good man" who was "pushed over the edge" on a bad day.
Leilani Taijeron said yesterday that her husband struggles with the stress of a difficult, thankless job at the Department of Corrections, where he works long hours with no overtime pay. He also has four children, including a newborn, whom he rarely gets to spend time with, and a mountain of bills he can't afford to pay, she said.
But John Paul Taijeron is the "kind of person who keeps things in," so the pressure builds, she said.
"We just got into a small argument, and I guess with all the stress of work and everything, it set him off," Leilani Taijeron said yesterday. "He just went off."
Before the arrest on Wednesday, John Paul Taijeron was at a DOC softball game in Mangilao, where he got in a text-message argument with his wife. Leilani Taijeron declined to explain what the argument was about, but she said it drew her to the softball game to make peace.
By the time she arrived, her husband had left.
Soon after, John Paul Taijeron started sending her text messages threatening suicide, which he had never done before, she said. His messages asked if she could live without him, and told her to start planning, Leilani Taijeron said yesterday.
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She tried to calm him down, but eventually he stopped responding. Terrified, she drove to their home in Mangilao to find him.
She was almost home when she heard the first gunshot.
Leilani Taijeron was on the road to her house in Malojloj when she heard the shot and pulled over. Suddenly, her husband walked out of the darkness on the road, and she tried to speak to him, but he kept moving.
She never saw a gun, but she heard another gunshot when he was out of sight.
Leilani Taijeron got back in her car and followed her husband, catching up to him again on the edge of Route 4. She heard two more gunshots.
That is when police arrived, she said.
According to documents filed in the Superior Court of Guam yesterday, police responded to a report of a man firing a gun in the air near the Malojloj 76 gas station, and when they arrived, John Paul Taijeron allegedly fired three shots at a patrol car that drove past.
Leilani Taijeron said she heard only four gunshots throughout the entire incident, and she heard no shots after police arrived. She never saw a gun in her husband's hands, so she doesn't believe he could have fired at police.
"I don't know if he had a gun. I didn't hear any shots -- nothing -- after the cops got there," Leilani Taijeron said.
Court documents also state that police found 26 shell casings in the area where John Paul Taijeron was arrested. They also found a 9 mm handgun, which John Paul Taijeron was allegedly issued by DOC, court documents state.
Leilani Taijeron said yesterday that her husband surrendered quickly, but police officers continued to knee him and yelled at him long after he was handcuffed and subdued.
Leilani Taijeron said she didn't know if her husband was attempting to commit suicide by drawing gunfire from police, but she did say that John Paul Taijeron sent her a text message that said he would get someone to kill him if he couldn't do it himself.
She can't afford to pay her husband's $100,000 bail, Leilani Taijeron said.
She tried to calm him down, but eventually he stopped responding. Terrified, she drove to their home in Mangilao to find him.
She was almost home when she heard the first gunshot.
Leilani Taijeron was on the road to her house in Malojloj when she heard the shot and pulled over. Suddenly, her husband walked out of the darkness on the road, and she tried to speak to him, but he kept moving.
She never saw a gun, but she heard another gunshot when he was out of sight.
Leilani Taijeron got back in her car and followed her husband, catching up to him again on the edge of Route 4. She heard two more gunshots.
That is when police arrived, she said.
According to documents filed in the Superior Court of Guam yesterday, police responded to a report of a man firing a gun in the air near the Malojloj 76 gas station, and when they arrived, John Paul Taijeron allegedly fired three shots at a patrol car that drove past.
Leilani Taijeron said she heard only four gunshots throughout the entire incident, and she heard no shots after police arrived. She never saw a gun in her husband's hands, so she doesn't believe he could have fired at police.
"I don't know if he had a gun. I didn't hear any shots -- nothing -- after the cops got there," Leilani Taijeron said.
Court documents also state that police found 26 shell casings in the area where John Paul Taijeron was arrested. They also found a 9 mm handgun, which John Paul Taijeron was allegedly issued by DOC, court documents state.
Leilani Taijeron said yesterday that her husband surrendered quickly, but police officers continued to knee him and yelled at him long after he was handcuffed and subdued.
Leilani Taijeron said she didn't know if her husband was attempting to commit suicide by drawing gunfire from police, but she did say that John Paul Taijeron sent her a text message that said he would get someone to kill him if he couldn't do it himself.
She can't afford to pay her husband's $100,000 bail, Leilani Taijeron said.
Source:Guamdp.com
