Days before she was killed, Andris Wofford found a gun nestled among clothes in her laundry basket, prosecutors said, and then made a prophetic comment to a friend.
“If anything happens to me,” prosecutors said she told her friend shortly before her death in December 2021, “Pierre will have done it.”
She was referring to Pierre Tyler, the father of her 9-month-old daughter and then a Chicago police officer, according to prosecutors, who said her prediction would soon come to pass.
After an argument over another woman, Tyler fired a shot that killed the 29-year-old mother in her apartment in the 2100 block of North Nashville Avenue in the Northwest Side’s Galewood neighborhood, according to police and prosecutors.
But Tyler, 32, standing trial on murder charges, is arguing that the shooting was in self-defense. He plans to take the stand later this week, his attorney said, a relatively rare choice because of the risk of going up against prosecutors for questions under oath.
His attorney, Tim Grace, argued that Wofford was shot after she pointed a weapon at the off-duty cop in a jealous rage. Prosecutors painted a different picture, telling jurors that Tyler fatally attacked Wofford — as she pressed him about his relationship with another woman — before he launched a calculated cover-up.
The jurors, who were sworn in Tuesday, will decide which version they believe. Family and friends gathered in a courtroom at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, at times tearfully stepping outside when crime scene photos and videos were on display. The trial is expected to last until Friday.
As far as Tyler’s status with the department, a Chicago police spokeswoman Tuesday said he was “inactive” but did not have further information. He has been held without bond since his arrest and his name does not appear on a current list of city employees.
“Andris was a 29-year-old mother of two daughters. … She was a daughter to Carl and Lisa,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Papa began in her opening arguments. “She had family and friends that cared about her.”
It was early December, and Andris, a social worker, was in the midst of preparing for the Christmas season, Papa said, taking out the stockings and putting up the Christmas tree. She also made a consequential decision to confront Tyler about his marital status, Papa said.
“She believed he had been married to another woman,” she said. “That decision is what cost her her life.”
Grace said Tyler wasn’t married, but Andris had misunderstood something she’d read in a court filing.
Tyler came to Wofford’s apartment to talk while the children were with relatives, Papa said, but the two began arguing. As the night grew later, Papa said, Wofford gathered her stuff and got ready to leave, to pick up her daughters.
“She opened the door … and the defendant shot her one time in face,” Papa said. “And then he left her to die in a pool of blood in the front entryway of her apartment.”
Tyler quickly started covering his tracks, including texting her mother that he couldn’t get in touch with her, Papa said.
A detective who interviewed Tyler testified Tuesday that Tyler told him he was meeting with a confidential informant alone during the shooting.
During his opening statement, Grace argued that Wofford became enraged when she thought she learned Tyler was married. He said she texted friends, telling them she was “about to go TF off.” He was about to leave, Grace said, when Wofford pointed a gun at him.
“Pierre does what any human being would do,” Grace said. “He defends himself.”
Afterward, Grace said, Tyler “made mistakes” because he felt no one would believe that Wofford’s killing was in self-defense.
“He’s a police officer, military veteran. He’s a man, she’s a woman. Nobody is going to believe him,” Grace said. “These mistakes he made doesn’t make him a murderer, it makes him a scared, panicked person, a human being.”
Later in the week, Grace said Tyler would take the stand to explain what happened, going up against questions from “experienced prosecutors.”
“In the end, you’re going to see a broken man take that stand,” Grace said.
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