Wife Killed by Husband Had Restraining Order

A woman fatally shot by her estranged husband Monday had obtained a temporary restraining order just two weeks earlier to keep him away, claiming he was violent and had threatened to kill her.

But within days of being served with the order, authorities said, Jose Valeriano followed his wife of 11 years as she dropped off their youngest son at school, then stepped behind her as she walked home and fired two bullets into her head.

“I love you, baby,” witnesses heard him call out while lying down next to her lifeless body and firing two fatal shots into his own chest.

Caught in a mix of grief and outrage, members of Hilda Valeriano’s family wondered aloud Tuesday why even law enforcement was helpless to protect the 34-year-old woman.

“I can see why people get frustrated that the law is not on our side,” said the dead woman’s sister, Alma Mercedes Ruiz. “She was trying to do the right things. And we told the cops before he had a gun, that he was threatening to kill her. Why not go ‘OK, let’s go check the house. We have a reason to.’ I know they are here to help us, but what good does it do? The person is dead now.”

Ruiz said her older sister had been struggling to get out of a marriage marked by physical abuse