That deadly shooting happened just beyond the gates in the parking lot. A neighbor tells Eyewitness News that just before the gunshots, he got a call from the mother of a three-year-old asking him to open the gate because she didn't have her remote control for the gate. She drove in, but police say she never made it out of the car.
It's hard for Pamela Gaines to come to grips with what happened to her great-niece, Tarvette Baugh, 36, early Tuesday morning.
"She hadn't even made it out the car," Gaines said. "From what I saw, one foot was out the car like she was getting out."
Houston police say the mother had parked in her parking space outside her southwest Houston condominiums around 3:30am when neighbors reported hearing several gunshots. Investigators say when they arrived they found Baugh, wearing pajamas, dead inside her rented gold Toyota Rav 4.
Authorities say the murderer fired at least six shots inside and outside the vehicle. Police believe the mother of one tried to fight back but was shot several times, at least once in the neck.
"It looks like there was possibly a struggle between the vehicles, so we're processing two cars. The exterior of the car next to it as well," said Sgt. Thomas Biggs with the Houston Police Homicide Division. "We are optimistic they will be able to get some prints from that."
Family members who had just spoken with the victim the day before her death are now struggling to understand.
Gaines asked, "Who and why, that sums it up for me. Who and why?"
"I would give my life for my cousin if it could have been me instead of her," Adrian Gaines said. "I would have took that loss."
No one has been arrested in this case yet. Police say they are looking for multiple suspects. Anyone who has any information is being asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
