Chicago cop takes stand at murder trial, claims girlfriend accidentally shot herself during struggle over gun

A Chicago police officer on trial for the murder of the mother of his child testified Friday that his girlfriend accidentally shot herself as he tried to grab a gun from her during an argument over child support.

Pierre Tyler, 32, admitted to making a “series of stupid, bad decisions” in a half-hearted attempt to cover up the fact he had been at the scene.

Speaking in a monotone voice, Tyler showed little emotion as he described how Andris Wofford shot herself in the face while pulling away from him in her Galewood apartment in 2021.

“In that moment panic set in,” Tyler said. “I began to make a series of stupid, bad decisions in my panic. I felt nobody would believe me.”

Prosecutors have alleged that Tyler shot Wofford on Dec. 8 when she confronted him about her belief that he was married to another woman with whom he also has children.

Tyler took the stand in a courtroom filled with his supporters seated across the gallery from Wofford’s family.

Under questioning by his lawyer Tim Grace, Tyler said he and Wofford yelled at each other over the course of a heated argument. His “off-duty” pistol was on a table in the apartment.

Tyler said he was putting on his holster as he prepared to leave and looked back to see Wofford pointing the gun at him, her finger on the trigger.

“Being a soldier as well as a police officer, I was always told never aim at anything you don't intend to shoot and never put your finger on the trigger unless you intend to shoot,” he said.

Tyler said he reached for Wofford and she jerked away, the gun now pointed toward her face as she pulled the trigger.

“As her arm goes up, the firearm goes off (and) her body fell in a forward-falling motion,” Tyler said. “At that point I’m shocked. I can barely move.”

Tyler said he left the apartment with the gun and Wofford’s phone and keys, walking out the back door for fear someone heard the gunshot and might see him if he used the front door.

In the hours that followed, he sent text messages from Wofford’s phone to her friends and relatives, threw the gun away in a vacant lot and somehow — Tyler did not recall how — got rid of Wofford’s phone and keys.

Her body was found by her family the following day when they became concerned that she didn’t pick up her children the night before and they couldn’t reach her.

On cross-examination, Assistant State’s Attorney Michelle Papa noted that it was Tyler who drove Wofford’s mother back to the house, never revealing to her that he knew her daughter was dead.

Chicago police homicide detective Thomas Beebe testified earlier in the day that he saw no signs of a struggle when he entered the apartment, describing the home as “well-kept.” He found the doors locked.

Also, “no injuries were apparent on her hands,” Beebe said, indicating she had not been involved in a struggle before the shooting.

Beebe testified that Tyler had told detectives his 9mm Springfield handgun was still at the apartment. “I checked every room in that house,” he said.

Video surveillance cameras recorded Tyler arriving at the home that night and leaving just after the shooting, the detective said. A holstered gun could be seen on Tyler’s hip.

Authorities say the gun was never recovered.

Both of Wofford’s hands and Tyler’s left hand tested positive for gunshot residue, which experts testified could be a result of having fired a weapon or being in the path of the powder of a fired weapon.

Wofford’s friends and relatives have testified that she was angry with Tyler because she believed he was secretly married to another woman, which she told others she had discovered in court records available on the Cook County clerk’s website.

Grace called Wofford “jealous” and “violent” in his opening statement and denied that Tyler was married, telling the jury there was no marriage certificate.

 Tyler’s sister, Shanika Tyler, briefly took the stand Friday as a defense witness. She told jurors about a call Tyler made to her when he placed her on speaker phone with Wofford and asked her if he had been married before.

 Tyler’s sister said he had not been married before. “She was really mad,” Shanika Tyler said.

 Tyler is listed as “inactive” in the police department while “on a leave of absence,” a spokesperson told the Sun-Times.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability, which investigates allegations of police misconduct, sent its final report on their investigation of the shooting to the police superintendent in April 2023.

COPA and the police department are prevented from releasing those records by order of Judge Mary Brosnahan, who is overseeing the trial.