David Hohman is lucky to be alive. “He was shot six times in the chest and in the arm” said Sergent Jeff Dunbar with the York Area Regional Police. Dunbar said the shooter was Baltimore City Police Officer John Torres, who was off duty at the time. An affidavit obtained by FOX 43 said that Hohman and Torres met at a grocery store in Maryland and Torres began a relationship with Hohman’s wife.
The affidavit goes on to say that Hohman, who lives in Baltimore, found out about the relationship so he drove to Torres’ apartment on Brentwood Drive in York Township to confront him. “At that point, obviously he was in fear of his safety and reacted” said Dunbar. They encountered each other by chance. Torres had already left for work, but forgot his contact lenses and had to go back home. That’s when he saw Hohman and fired 14 rounds into the car he was driving.
“It’s like winning the lottery you know. Being at the right place at the right time and picking the right numbers, or the wrong numbers in this case” said Dunbar. Baltimore Police were also on the scene after the shooting happened. A spokesman with the Baltimore Police Department said that Torres has been a cop since 2002 and has been suspended without pay. He’s been charged with attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
Sergent Dunbar said “we are all human and a lot of times passion overtakes our emotions and we do things in the heat of the moment that we probably shouldn’t and wouldn’t do normally.” Dunbar said that although Torres is a cop, it doesn’t change how they’re handling the investigation.
This isn’t the first time Torres has been involved in a violent incident. Torres was involved in a 2008 homicide. He shot and killed a fellow officer in a strip club parking lot in Maryland. A jury cleared him of wrongdoing and said he acted reasonably because the victim reached for his weapon. Torres was taken to the York County Prison and held on $750,000 bail.