SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio man accused of shooting a young mother and their two young children Monday night was recently divorced from the woman, court records obtained by KSAT Investigates confirm.
Stephen Clare, 50, was still in jail Tuesday night on two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and capital murder of a person under the age of 10 after the youngest victim in the case passed away.
Clare is being held on bonds totaling $2 million.
Clare shot his 28-year-old ex-wife multiple times and also shot their 2-year-old daughter and 11-month-old daughter after Clare and the woman argued inside a home in the 500 block of Robinhood Place Monday evening, San Antonio police investigators said.
Two other children under the age of 12 belonging to the woman were able to escape from the home without being shot, SAPD officials said.
Clare was arrested outside his home in the 1500 block of Haskin Drive, less than a mile from the shooting scene, a short time later.
Couple had divorced in late December
Court filings detail a relationship between Clare and the woman that had fallen apart recently.
In February 2021, Clare filed for a court-ordered paternity test to determine if he was the father of a girl born to the woman in August 2020.
Months later, in June 2021, Clare and the woman were married in Bexar County, civil court records show.
The couple then separated in January of last year.
In February of last year, the woman filed for divorce, citing discord in the marriage and a conflict of personalities.
She was pregnant at the time of the filing and expected to deliver the couple’s second child in April of last year.
Both children were listed in the divorce petition as legally belonging to Clare.
A subsequent divorce decree was finalized in late December, court records show.
KSAT could find no record of any protective orders being filed by the woman, who underwent surgery Monday and was expected to survive her injuries.
Officials have not given an update on the condition of the 2-year-old victim since saying Monday night that she was in critical condition.
“Domestic violence feeds on secrecy. It has consequences out there, for the places they may work, with the children, with family members, with neighbors,” said Marta Prada Pelaez, president and CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services.
SAPD’s calls for service records show officers were called to the home on Robinhood Place in October for a family disturbance after a woman said a man was harassing her. The man took off before officers arrived.
SAPD officials on Tuesday declined to give the identities of the caller or the man since he was not formally charged.
A spokeswoman for Child Protective Services confirmed Tuesday that the young boys who escaped from the home Monday are not in CPS custody. She declined to release additional details on their whereabouts.
Clare works as a contract nurse practitioner at the Emergency Clinic of Alamo Heights, a supervisor told KSAT Tuesday.
He said Clare, however, would not be put on any future work schedules.
Prada Pelaez encouraged anyone in the community who witnesses aggressive behavior between domestic partners to report what they have seen, even if it is anonymously.
“I’m sure something was seen, some place. At a restaurant, something must have been heard. Frustration, very frustrating,” said Prada Pelaez.