Report: Boy, 8, witnesses mother's fatal carjacking; helps younger siblings hide
CASTLE POINT, Mo. -- A relative says an 8-year-old Missouri boy witnessed a man fatally shoot his mother in an attempted carjacking, then helped his two younger siblings hide before running for help. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 28-year-old Porsha Owens was killed Monday morning in St. Louis County's Castle Point neighborhood as she led her children to her car to take them to day care.
She was a school safety officer in a nearby school district.
Fannie King says her great grandson told her the gunman ordered his mother to give him her money and keys, then shot her. The gunman couldn't get the car to start and fled. The boy told his younger siblings to hide under the car so they wouldn't get hurt, King told the paper.
King says her grandson flagged down a police officer and waited by his mother's side until an ambulance came.
She was found suffering from at least one gunshot wound and was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, but has now died from her injuries, reports CBS affiliate KMOV.
King said Owens' other two children are a 3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl.
"I talked to the children," King told the paper. "The two smaller ones, they don't comprehend she's not coming back. The older one, he knows."
In a statement on Facebook, the Riverview Gardens School District described Owens as a treasured member of the school community who "worked diligently to build positive relationships with scholars and staff."
Detectives have no suspects. They're asking anyone with information to call 1-866-371-TIPS.
