Texas couple 'shot 5-year-old girl for trespassing'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Texas couple 'shot 5-year-old girl for trespassing'*
A Texas couple has been accused of opening fire and wounding four people
- including a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl - who they mistakenly
thought were trespassing on their property.
Last Updated: 11:02PM BST 08 May 2009
Gale and Sheila Muhs who have been charged with shooting four people
The victims, who were off-roading near a residential area about 40 miles
north-east of Houston, were struck with shotgun pellets late on Thursday
after stopping their vehicles near the Trinity River so the children
could go to the lavatory, police said.
Off-roading, a popular hobby in the area, involves driving vehicles on
unpaved areas, such as fields or riverbeds.
Police said Sheila Muhs, 45, fired once with a 12-gauge shotgun before
handing it to her husband, Gale Muhs, also 45.
Mrs Muhs called a police emergency dispatcher and said, "They're out
here tearing up the levee, so I shot them."
The Muhs have been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Donald Coffee Jr., the 7-year-old boy, was shot in the head and was in
critical condition on Friday.
Patrick Cammack, a friend of the boy's father who was driving in a
separate vehicle, also was shot in the head and was in critical condition.
Donald Coffee Sr., 36, had a pellet wound in his right shoulder. His
daughter, 5-year-old Destiny, was shot in the elbow but was in good
condition.
After the shootings, Mr Coffee's wife took the wheel and drove the
family's sport utility vehicle to a nearby fire station, where the
victims were taken by helicopter to a hospital.