Mar 5 - Gang member's mom, dog fatally shot in Oak Cliff

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By SCOTT GOLDSTEIN / The Dallas Morning News
sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

The gunmen who kicked in the door of a west Oak Cliff home early Sunday morning went room to room in search of a 19-year-old gang member, Dallas police say.

He was there, hiding.

And when they could not find him, they shot his 50-year-old mom and the family dog.

Kathy Pierson Sanders, a federal employee, was pronounced dead about 2:20 a.m. at the home she shared with her son and her elderly mother on Falls Drive, near South Westmoreland Road.

Description Goes Here "We don't believe she had anything to do with it," Sgt. Gene Reyes, a homicide supervisor, said. "I don't really believe that she was the intended target."

The apparent target, police say, is now a key witness.

He called 911 to report the crime.

Ms. Sanders' mother was also home but suffers from dementia and does not recall details of the shooting, police said. She does know, however, that her daughter is dead.

Police say they aren't sure what the gunmen, who remain at large, planned to do to the son.

He told investigators he doesn't know why anyone would be after him.

Neighbors and police said Ms. Sanders worked for the government in immigration, though her specific job was unclear Sunday. A relative told police she was recently promoted.

Ms. Sanders' husband died soon after the family moved into the home six or seven years ago, neighbors said.

They described her as a hard-working woman who was always on the go.

She was out the door to work at 5 a.m. and back about 3 p.m. every day, said Mary Gonzales, who has lived on the street for 45 years.

"She was sweet," Ms. Gonzales said. "She didn't deserve to die like that."

An old stool sat on the front stoop of the white house.

It's where Ms. Sanders' mother would sometimes sit to wait for her daughter, a neighbor said.

Neighbors said they sometimes heard loud fights between mother and son.

The son is currently on probation for a weapons charge and previously served probation for car theft, according to Dallas County records.

As neighbors tended to yard sales and backyard barbecues Sunday, two Dallas police gang unit officers knocked on the front door of the home in search of Ms. Sanders' son. No one answered.

"To hear that it was her, it was sad," Erika Hernandez, another neighbor, said. "She took care of him."

A garbage can in front of the house was tagged with gang graffiti, as were the walls of the son's bedroom inside.

"Picture the Berlin Wall before it was knocked down," Sgt. Reyes said. "That's what his bedroom looked like."

[WEfameAZ]

aww damn.. thats fucked up.