Update: Man arrested in shooting death of his wife

An 81-year-old El Paso man has been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife Wednesday morning at their home in the 10700 block of Fort Worth.

Ervin Maier allegedly shot his 76-year-old wife, Okin, and then called police dispatchers and told them that he had just shot his wife in the head with a handgun, according to a El Paso Police affidavit.

In April 2011, paperwork was drawn up to declare Ervin incompetent and make him a ward of Adult Protective Services because he had been sleeping in a car outside a hospital where his wife was being treated for three weeks.

The doctor who evaluated him at that time issued an opinion that it wouldn’t be justified to issue protective services without Ervin’s consent. In that evaluation, Ervin said he had emphysema and a history of stroke.

Crimes Against Persons (CAP) investigators recovered a handgun at the scene and Ervin was transported to an area hospital for treatment of a medical condition and was booked into the El Paso County Jail on the charge of murder after he was released from the hospital.

His bond was set at $150,000.

According to court documents, Ervin “reported that on March 17, 2011 that his wife attacked him with a cane and he suffered bruising on left arm. Mr. Maier has stated that he is afraid of his wife but he refuses to apply for a protective order against her.”
This is the 15th homicide of 2012 compared to 14 during this same time period last year.