City council: Terminate cop who shot 93-year-old woman

HEARNE, Texas -- Leaders of a Central Texas city voted to terminate the police officer who shot and killed an armed 93-year-old woman, CBS News correspondent Anna Werner reports.

The Hearne City Council convened Saturday afternoon about the death of Pearlie Golden. An officer in Hearne, 110 miles northwest of Houston, shot Golden Tuesday night after she allegedly refused to put down her handgun.

The unanimous vote took less than 30 minutes, CBS affiliate KBTX-TV in Bryan, Texas, reports.

Officer Stephen Stem was at Golden's residence investigating a report of a woman with a gun when the shooting occurred. According to a statement from the Hearne Police Department (HPD), Golden "brandished a weapon" and then Stem fired "multiple shots wounding Golden." She later died at the hospital.

Protesters have marched on city hall over the shooting of Golden, also known as "Miss Sulie."

Golden's nephew, Roy Jones, told KBTX-TV that his aunt had failed her driving test earlier that day and when he wouldn't give her the keys to the car, she became angry and got a .38 caliber revolver. Jones told the station that he called police and that Golden fired two shots into the ground after police arrived.

Robertson County District Attorney Cody Seigert told CBS News' Crimesider that police found a .38 revolver on the scene but he could not confirm or deny whether Golden had fired the gun, which has been sent to a state lab for testing.

According to Jessica Vega, the communications manager for the HPD, Stem's first day on the job was July 22, 2012. In December of that year, he shot and killed 28-year-old Tederalle Satchell after responding to a call about people shooting guns from inside a vehicle in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

Vega told Crimesider that the Texas Rangers investigated the Satchell shooting but a grand jury declined to indict Stem, and no disciplinary action was taken.

Stem was on paid administrative leave while the Texas Rangers investigate Golden's death.

According to Vega, two fatal shootings in less than two years is definitely an anomaly for the 12-member force.