Cops: Argument about dirty dish sparks shooting in Downers Grove

A Downers Grove woman accused of blasting her boyfriend with a shotgun after an argument involving a dirty dish could be charged with attempted murder, prosecutors said Wednesday.

DuPage County Judge Elizabeth Sexton set bail at $1 million for Vickie D. Podruzek, 43, who faces charges of aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery with a firearm.

Podruzek is accused of shooting her boyfriend with a .410-gauge shotgun about noon Sunday in their Carpenter Street home. Prosecutor Kirsten King said the victim suffered “four or five entry and exit wounds” to the neck and shoulders when he was shot at nearly point-blank range through a door.

“Additional charges of attempted murder may be forthcoming,” she said in bond court.

Podruzek told police the couple discussed their relationship Saturday night and she “thought things were going to change,” according to prosecutors. But tensions mounted Sunday after the victim failed to clean a dirty dish, and the defendant accused him of saying “mean things,” King said.

Prosecutors said Podruzek retrieved a shotgun and opened fire after the victim shut her out of a bedroom. Afterward, she put the weapon in their garage and had a cigarette, prosecutors said, then returned to find the victim calling out, “I’m dying, I’m dying.”

King said Podruzek brought the victim a towel and called 911, later telling police she only meant to “scare him.” The victim was treated in the intensive care unit at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, where he remained in stable condition Wednesday, King said.

“The police have not been able to interview him to get his side of the story,” she said.

Police have responded to domestic disturbances at the couple’s home several times before, according to prosecutors. One squabble in 2009 happened after the victim went out and bought a steak for himself but not the defendant, King said.

Podruzek, who has no prior criminal history, is barred from contacting the victim if she posts the necessary $100,000 to bond out of jail. She is scheduled to appear Feb. 28 in front of Judge John Kinsella.