Police: Bedroom shooting in Crystal Lake no accident

A Crystal Lake man who claimed he accidentally shot his girlfriend in the face over the weekend now is facing charges alleging he was trying to end her life.

Saying evidence from the shooting didn't match up with the man's account, authorities late Monday charged Dale G. Barkstrom with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.

Police arrested Barkstrom, 28, outside his father's Hoffman Estates home late Tuesday morning and transferred him to the McHenry County jail, where he is being held on $500,000 bond.

His 28-year-old girlfriend, Fatime Jashari, remained in stable condition Tuesday at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge with what police termed nonlife threatening injuries. Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Dennis Harris said the 28-year-old woman was in an induced coma while recovering from surgery.

McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi said he could not discuss details of the evidence, except to say they contradicted Barkstrom's claims.

"There was evidence at the scene that was inconsistent with what was originally reported," Bianchi said. "That information led us to believe this was not an accident."

Police were called to Barkstrom's home in the 100 block of Terra Cotta Avenue about 11:37 a.m. Sunday on a report that a woman had been shot in the face.

Barkstrom told officers he inadvertently fired a semi-automatic handgun while laying in bed with Jashari, police said. The bullet, according to reports, struck the woman in the jaw.

The new charges are both Class X felonies, punishable by six to 30 years in prison if Barkstrom is found guilty.