By Jesse Garza and Ryan Haggerty
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WALWORTH COUNTY, Wis. — A Zion, Ill., man who beat the mother of his 22-month-old daughter before abducting the child from her Kenosha home was shot to death by Walworth County sheriff’s deputies Monday after brandishing a gun at the end of a vehicle chase, authorities said.
Antonio J. Torres, 41, told police that “the next time we saw him and his daughter they both would have bullets to their heads,” Kenosha Police Chief John W. Morrissey said during a press conference about Liliana J. Torres’ abduction Monday afternoon.
Torres died at the scene of the shooting on County Highway H between Pell Lake and Lake Geneva, according to a news release from the Walworth County sheriff’s office.
According to the release, during the pursuit Torres pointed a weapon at deputies and, before deputies opened fire, “made life-threatening gestures toward the child.”
Torres’s daughter appeared to be unharmed after the incident but was taken to a hospital as a precaution, according to Kenosha police.
The crisis began about 11 a.m. Monday when Torres called Kenosha police and said the girl’s mother needed an ambulance because he had just beaten the woman, according to a Kenosha Police Department news release.
According to that release:
A dispute between Torres and the 32-year-old mother started when he dropped the child off after a visitation and expressed a desire to reunite with the woman. Torres and Liliana were gone by the time police arrived, and the woman was taken to a hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
When Torres called the house and asked about the woman, an officer tried to persuade him to return to the home. Before hanging up, Torres refused and said the next time officers saw him and the girl, the two would be shot.
An Amber Alert was activated, and a search — which included the use of the Kenosha police helicopter — began for the blue 1999 Mercury Mountaineer sport utility vehicle Torres was believed to be driving.
According to the Walworth County sheriff’s office, about 3 p.m. one of its off-duty deputies saw a vehicle matching that description in the eastern part of Walworth County.
The deputy notified the county’s communications division, and the pursuit began when on-duty deputies were dispatched.
The Bloomfield Township Police Department joined the chase, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said Torres stopped the vehicle and made threatening gestures toward his daughter.
According to the agency’s release, “Deputies fired their weapons at this point to protect the life of the child, and struck the suspect.”
Bloomfield-Genoa City Rescue was called to treat Torres, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident will be investigated by the state Department of Criminal Investigation, according to the sheriff’s office release.
Kenosha’s Morrissey said that in 1998, Torres beat and kidnapped his ex-wife and their children.
According to online state court records, in 1998 Torres was convicted of criminal trespass to a dwelling, battery, threats to injure and burglary-building or dwelling.
Copyright 2008 The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel