DEARBORN, IN – Following a brutal shooting incident, a man in Indiana has been arrested and charged with murder, illegal use of a firearm during a felony offense, and two counts of child neglect. Mohammed Mondal, 45, is currently held without bond at Dearborn Law Enforcement Center, as per Dearborn County Circuit Court records. According to a probable cause affidavit, Mondal first reported to the 911 dispatcher that he “accidentally shot his wife.” But he quickly changed his tune and claimed he shot Stacy Mondal, a mother of five, in “self-defense”.
According to the affidavit, the responding Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department sergeant reported that the tone of Mondal’s voice during the emergency call was panicked and upset. He was asked to provide his location immediately. The incident reportedly took place in Mondal’s vehicle, where both his wife and their two minor children were present. The family was en route to JCPenney for a family photo shoot when the shots were fired.
Following the shooting, Mondal drove to St. Elizabeth Dearborn Hospital located near the Ohio border, where his wife was later pronounced dead at 12:11 p.m. Inside the vehicle, police found a small black handgun on the passenger side floor. Mondal, during follow-up interviews, asserted that his actions were in self-defense as his wife was reaching for his gun. He cited marital issues, including his suspicion of his wife’s infidelity, as contributing factors to the altercation.
However, during their investigation, the detectives found no evidence of the alleged infidelity claimed by Mondal. Adding further details to the incident, Mondal stated that during their journey to the photo shoot, an argument ensued, and his wife, Stacy, struck him with her cellphone and then reached for a gun in the car.
Following the news of his wife’s demise, Mondal mentioned for the first time that his wife had pointed the gun at him before he fired the shots. Despite his claims, the investigators found no evidence that Stacy Mondal fired a shot during the argument.
The defendant’s final statement in the interview insisted that he fired seven shots at his wife to “neutralize a threat,” and strongly refuted the idea that he was “the bad guy.” Meanwhile, Stacy’s family emphasizes their focus on supporting her five surviving children and expressed gratitude for the community’s outpouring of compassion.