Investigators working to identify suspect who murdered woman inside Haverstock Hills Apartments

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A grandmother of four was shot to death inside her northeast Harris County apartment Monday morning.

Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff's Office said the woman, identified by family as Andrea Denkins, was shot several times at approximately 6 a.m. The shooting occurred at the Haverstock Hills Apartments off Aldine Bender Road.

One bullet tore through a neighboring unit and brushed the hair of a man sleeping in a bunk bed with his girlfriend and two children.

"It's just what this place is known for," Denkins' daughter, Jasmine Johnson, said. "This place does need to be shut down."

In 2010, a judge issued Harris County's first-ever anti-gang civil injunction banning known gang members from Haverstock Hills Apartments.

Eight years later, Prairie View A&M launched a public safety initiative on the property.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office also opened a substation inside the complex. HCSO said the building is not staffed 24/7 but is used by deputies responding to calls.

"Now my mom is part of that statistic of Haverstock," Johnson said.

The sheriff's office said four people were inside Denkins' apartment at the time of the shooting. They said the four were cooperative and had been ruled out as suspects.

Denkins' family said the 55-year-old was a mother of two and grandmother to four children, the youngest of whom, a newborn, relatives said she never got a chance to meet.

"She had a heart of gold. You knew that she'd give you the shirt off her back. She'll feed you. Anything that you need, she'll give it to you. She didn't have much, but you had it if she got it," Johnson said of her mother.

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