4 killed, 1 wounded in shootings at Abilene duplex
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4 killed, 1 wounded in shootings at Abilene duplex
03/30/99
Associated Press
ABILENE - Four teenage girls were shot to death, and a man was wounded
Monday
at a duplex, officials said.
Police released few details about the shootings but said they were
summoned to
the duplex about 5 p.m.
A wounded man was found in the driveway and the four other victims,
including
one who was pregnant, were inside, police said.
The four were identified as Sandy Witt, Naomi Martinez, Penny Estrada
and Erica
Arispe, KTXS-TV reported. Larry Hammond's injuries were not believed to
be
life-threatening.
Police at the scene told KTXS that they were looking for a light-colored
Cadillac that was seen speeding from the area.
KRBC reported that Mr. Hammond might have been shot while investigating
the
gunshots at the duplex.
Repeated telephone calls from The Associated Press to Abilene police
weren't
returned Monday night.
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The following appears courtesy of the 3/30/99 online edition of The
Abilene
Reporter-News newspaper:
Tuesday, March 30, 1999
Four dead in Northside shooting
By DEON DAUGHERTY
Staff Writer
Four young women were shot and killed Monday in a tiny room of a cement
duplex
apartment in North Abilene.
Police arrived in the 1400 block of Cedar Street Monday shortly after 5
p.m.,
summoned by a 911 call about gunshots and a report that one man was down
on the
ground.
That man, identified by neighbors as Larry Hammond, is a handyman who
lived
nearby. Detective Jay Hatcher said Hammond had been shot at least once
in the
abdomen. He was in emergency surgery at 9:30 p.m. at nearby Hendrick
Hospital.
That shooting investigation led police into a home right across the
driveway
from where Hammond was found. A call went out for more ambulances. Three
showed
up. Emergency personnel went in the house with medical equipment and
came out
minutes later and drove away.
About three hours later, police identified the four women inside as
Naomi
Martinez, Erica Arispie, Sandy Witt and Penny Estrada. They said one of
them
may have been pregnant. They were unsure of the victims’ ages, but
believed all
were in their late teens.
Police said they are checking the possibility the deaths are somehow
related to
the Sunday night shooting of 16-year-old Jimmy Estrada at his home on
South 5th
Street. They said they didn’t know yet if Penny Estrada is related to
Jimmy
Estrada.
Police also said on Monday that Jimmy Estrada told them he didn’t know
his
assailant. Two other juveniles injured in Sunday’s gunfire also told
police
they didn’t know the shooter.
On Monday, several residents of the North 15th and Cedar Street area,
including
children, said they heard two shots around 5 p.m. come from the home.
One
11-year-old boy said he saw a tan Cadillac leaving the scene after he
heard the
gunfire. Another man said he believed he saw a blue foreign car,
possibly a
Nissan, leaving the scene in a hurry.
Police said they believe the gunman — and they weren’t sure late Monday
if
there was only one — probably left in a car. Early in the evening they
issued a
radio bulletin for a light-colored blue car.
Detective Hatcher said police were still working to identify suspects.
He said
the questioning was just beginning.
“We’ve made a lot of headway tonight,” he said.
Hatcher said the scene inside the home was “very, very gruesome.” He
said it
appeared that some of the women may have been trying to escape.
“It’s a very, very sad fact to have happened to four people at such a
young
age,” the detective said.
While police were investigating inside the house, a group of more than
100
neighbors, friends and onlookers crowded the street and neighboring
yards.
After police closed off the road, children played and danced in the
street
while others sat on their porches and strummed guitars.
About an hour into the investigation, family members began to appear at
the
police line. Others brought them coats and jackets as they kept vigil
outside,
waiting for word on what was happening inside.
Police said they couldn’t identify the victims without family help. For
each
dead woman, a family member had first to identify the body before it
could be
taken away in a white Suburban.
Hatcher said that in his 16 years of police work and at least 20 years
in
recent memory, this is the first quadruple homicide in Abilene.
Three months into 1999, there have already been six homicides. In 1998,
there
also were six. In 1997 there were eight; in 1996 only two.
Violence isn’t new to that northside Abilene neighborhood, many of the
residents said.
Donna Rhone, who lives just a few houses away, said the tiny group of
duplex
apartments have housed problems ever since she moved to the area 13
years ago.
“If they would knock down those apartments, it would be a better area,”
she
said. “My kids can’t even play in their front yard because I’m afraid
they’ll
get shot.”
She said last year, her 10-year-old son was attacked by someone with a
knife at
South 15th and Cedar, the same corner of Monday’s violence. She said
that
recently someone pulled into her driveway and pointed a gun at her
sister.