Mother shot to death shielding 2 sons while driving home in Westchase area, family says

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A mother was shot and killed while shielding her children from bullets flying into her car in Houston's Westchase area over the weekend, according to her family.

The Houston Police Department responded to the shooting at about 8 p.m. on Friday in the 3100 block of Elmside Drive near Meadowglen Lane.

Officers found that a 37-year-old woman had been shot while she was with her two sons driving home on Meadowglen near Elmside in west Houston.

HPD said the family was approached by two unknown suspects who immediately began firing.

Paramedics pronounced the mother dead, and the two children in the car were not injured, police said.

The victim's family identified her as Isha Goff, saying she was a mother, a healthcare worker, and a musician.

Goff leaves behind a 13-year-old, a 4-year-old, and a 1-year-old.

"You just put them in your arms, and you just hold them because there aren't any words to say, 'Mommy will be back tomorrow,'" Goff's godmother and pastor, Gladys Pratt Seahorn, said.

Goff's two older children were in the car with her when she was shot in front of her apartment. Her eldest child saw the whole thing and explained it to the family.

"These two guys, out of nowhere walked slowly across the street and decided just to stop in front of her car. When she tried to make them move by honking, they began to the tirade of shooting," Seahorn said. "They shot the tires out first in order for her not to move. And then she had two of her sons, two children in the car with her. She was shielding the oldest one."

Police still don't know if the shooting was targeted or random. But they have been called out to the exact intersection 26 times this year, and it's not even March yet.

"We can't say it'll never happen to us because the possibilities are so there. When it does happen, it's just like I am now- you don't know what to say," Seahorn said. "We believe that justice is going to come forth. This is why I'm doing this interview, in order for people to know that danger is lurking and danger needs to be taken off the streets."

Anyone with information on the suspects is urged to contact the Houston Police Department at 713-308-8800 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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