CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – A trial began Tuesday for a retired Air Force major who is accused of shooting his estranged wife and father-in-law in front of his then 4-year-old son in 2012.
Police said Thomas Maffei and his ex-wife were separated and going through a divorce when he went to her apartment in the 10500 block of Sample Road the night of Nov. 2, 2012.
Police said Katherine Maffei and her father, Robert Ranta, were leaning against the front door to keep Thomas Maffei out when he fired three shots into the door.
"It's the day their lives changed forever, it is the day that that man over there, Mr Maffei, tried to take their lives," prosecutor Molly McGuire said.
Officers arrived at the home to find Katherine Maffei and Ranta suffering from gunshot wounds.
Police said Ranta was holding the former couple's 4-year-old son, who was not injured in the shooting.
"I remember when the bullets came through the door, I saw Katie looking shocked, just like I was," Ranta testified on Tuesday. "And I remember raising my arm and watching my hand wilt, so I knew that I had been shot, and of course I was in denial that this whole scenario was taking place. It's like something you see on TV, not in real life."
Ranta was in tears as he recalled the moment he realized his daughter had also been shot.
"They said, 'She is gone,'" Ranta said. "I thought Kate was dead."
Ranta and his daughter were taken to Broward Health North in serious condition. Police said Maffei immediately surrendered to authorities upon their arrival.
Maffei was arrested on charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed burglary, false imprisonment and child abuse.
The Sun-Sentinel reported that Maffei had gone to a Veterans Administration crisis clinic in Palm Beach County hours before the shooting and told staff that he was under extreme stress.
Maffei had been diagnosed with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.
His attorney, Fred Haddad, is expected to present an "intoxication defense" at trial.
Haddad said Maffei's tours of duty in the military and his follow-up treatment were contributing factors in the shooting.
"You will hear about interactions with drugs, you will hear about what was prescribed to him that day, hours before he snapped," Haddad said.