Gunfire at one of two separate but related shootings in Dallas and neighboring DeSoto has left four people dead and four more injured.
The DeSoto police took the suspected shooter, Erbie Bowser, into custody during the second shooting. Police said Bowser is being held at DeSoto Jail pending charges.
Police did not explain Bowser’s relationship to any of the victims in either shooting, but a family member of one of the Dallas victims told police Bowser was in a relationship with her daughter, who was killed in the shooting.
Dallas Police Department officers arrived on the scene around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. They found four gunshot victims; two of the victims already deceased.
Family member Lurlean Smith said her daughter, Toya Smith, and granddaughter, 17-year-old Mia Allen, were the two victims killed in Dallas. Lurlean Smith also said her 14-year-old grandson was shot and taken away from the scene by the suspect. The grandson is now at an area hospital. A fourth shooting victim was described by Lurlean Smith as a friend of her daughter.
Lurlean Smith told NBC 5 she was on the phone with her daughter, Toya Smith, last night just minutes before the shooting happened and believed something was wrong. She went to the home to check on the situation and said she could hear her daughter moaning and gasping for breath through the window. The daughter’s friend, who was also shot, managed to open the door to the home.
Lurlean Smith said she found her 17-year-old granddaughter, Mia Allen, shot in the back of the head and believes Allen was trying to run away from her attacker. Smith said she believes all the victims tried to escape from the violence.
“Her door was open, the car was open, evidently they were trying to get away,” Lurlean Smith said.
The DeSoto Police Department officers were sent to the scene of the second shooting at 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
When officers arrived, they found another four people shot, two of whom were also deceased. The related shootings were 100 blocks away from one another.
Two boys, ages 11 and 13, were wounded at the scene. No details on their conditions were given.
Agents from the FBI and ATF were on scene in DeSoto to assist in the investigation, but police did not confirm a specific reason for those teams being on site.
A neighbor in DeSoto, Tommy Johnson, said he heard a loud boom Wednesday night coming from the direction of the home where the victims were later found.
“We thought it was coming from upstairs, because the kids are always upstairs making noise,” Johnson said. “I went up and asked, `Did y’all hear anything?’ and one of my daughters said it came from outside. So I peeped out the front and that’s when I saw a bunch of officers walking down the sidewalk and about 10 houses up.”
Dallas and DeSoto police departments are currently working together on the case.
Our prayers go out to all the victims’ families that were involved in the shootings.
Source: NBC 5
