2nd Teen Charged With Murder Of 79-Year-Old Woman In Her South Dallas Home
DALLAS, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — A teenaged girl turned herself in to Dallas police this weekend and was charged with the murder of an elderly woman shot inside her home on Halloween.
According to police, 79-year-old Gloria Roque was inside her home with her adult daughter when bullets came through the walls and struck her just before 11 p.m. Oct. 31. She was shortly taken to Baylor Hospital, but died from her injuries.
A little over three months later on Feb. 7, police determined that a juvenile was responsible for the murder of Roque and arrested him. He is currently in the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center on a murder charge.
On Saturday, two weeks after his arrest, 17-year-old Kimberly Ann Garcia surrendered herself and was also charged for Roque's murder. She is currently in the Dallas County Jail in lieu of a $150,000 bond.
Family and friends said Roque was a piano teacher, church choir singer and an active member of her neighborhood association.
"Mama is a retired teacher. She loved music. She was a music major. She graduated from Bishop College," her son, Keith Lee, said. "And after she retired, she took care of my sister Pam and went to church, and she loved that neighborhood they stayed in."
Lee said he tried to convince his mother two years ago to move out of the South Dallas area, but she was adamant on staying.
"Unfortunately, that's the big part of life in South Dallas. Gunshots in the air. You hear gunshots outside. You get used to it. You get complacent about it. But every once in a while they're directed at somebody," Lee said.
Roque's pastor, Rev. Joshua Manning of Warren United Methodist Church, said she was active in the community.
"To have this incident be essentially so random and not targeted, but to have an elderly woman who was very active in the community and in her local worshipping community lose her life in the process is very frustrating," he said.
As for the kids involved, Lee said they don't think about their own future.
"I want my mama to have her day in court as far as that goes. I need to see... I want to see these kids face to face so they can see the impact they made on my family," he said.
Roque's children said police have told them they're looking at additional suspects who may have also been involved. They said if that is true, they hope they too come forward.