Woman shot point blank while setting up garage sale in Tomball area
Home surveillance video shows a woman shot point blank while setting up for a garage sale in her Tomball-area neighborhood on Friday morning. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is now on the hunt for the shooter.
The shooting was reported at around 6:52 a.m. Friday on Cedar Walk Drive. The victim was left in critical condition, according to Lieutenant Jeff Stauber with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Violent Crimes Unit.
The neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the graphic incident. It shows the woman in her driveway setting up a garage sale when the suspect approaches her. She’s going through her items when another person, who appears to be a woman, walks up. They appear to have a five-second conversation before the shooter fires three shots.
The victim falls, and the shooter walks up and fires a final shot over the top of the victim before turning and running back to her truck.
"It was three gunshots, one after the other, and then it was about a second or two, and then another gunshot,” said Candy Ellis, a neighbor who heard the gunfire and called 911.
Video shows what appears to be a black truck driving away.
"Our victim was laying in the driveway with multiple gunshot wounds,” said Lt. Stauber. "Looks very deliberate to me.”
Later on Friday morning, the victim’s husband was seen behind the crime scene tape talking to detectives for a couple of hours. His mother spoke with reporters in a nearby driveway while waiting for her son. She told of the moment she heard about the shooting.
"I call my son on the phone, and I ask, 'What happened with Liz and with you?'” said Margarita Barraza. "He just told me, 'Something happened in my house, so I have to go back and see what’s going on.’”
Barraza said her son and daughter-in-law are Sergio and Elizabeth Barraza. She added that they have been married for four years and lived in their home on Cedar Walk Drive for two or three years. She also Sergio was at work doing flooring when Elizabeth, in her late 20s, was shot.
"They just live normal life,” said Barraza. “They are working, and they are good people.”
Barraza reunited with her son, and they left the scene of the shooting early on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, items that would have been for sale we’re instead tucked away behind police tape as detectives combed the property for evidence.
"She has some really nice things,” said Cindy Ghrist, who lives across the street from the victim. “I was with her last year when she was doing the garage sale.”
Ghrist says the garage sale was an annual event at the victim’s home.
Detectives spent the day viewing surveillance video at nearby homes and businesses and trying to determine if the shooter is someone the young couple knows.
Detectives are asking the public for help.
"If there’s anything that they can glean from that video, if someone knows this individual based on the video, I know the video’s somewhat grainy, please call the sheriff’s office," said Lt. Stauber. "We certainly want to get some resolve to this case as quick as possible."
Detectives are not releasing a suspect description at this time, just that the shooter appeared to be driving a black pickup truck.