Mollie Olgin, 19, Shot And Killed In Portland, Texas, As Mary Chapa, Her Girlfriend, Clings To Life
Two teen women who had a romantic relationship were shot in the small Texas town of Portland on Saturday. One of the teens succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, of Ingleside, and Mary Christine Chapa, 18, of Sinton, were walking on a scenic overlook portion of Violet Andrews Park. Both girls were found shot in the head.
The police chief that it is possible the two girls were targeted by their assailant.
This particular case, it does have some of the earmarks of a targeted attack, Chief Randy Wright of Portland told KZTV.
However, Wright was not sure if the girls' sexuality played a role in the shooting. Police are still investigating.
That's always something that we're looking for, but as of this point, we have not been able to establish that that had anything to do with the attack, he said, according to MSNBC.
Wright said that an incident like this has not occurred in his town in a long time.
We've had homicides, but we haven't had this type of murder in many years -- nothing of this magnitude, he said, the Corpus Christi Caller reported. Olgin's death marks first the murder this year in the town of 16,000.
Chapa was immediately taken to a nearby hospital. She received emergency surgery and was said to be in serious but stable condition, according to local NBC affiliate kristv.com.
Wright said the Portland Police department was in communication with Chapa. She said that there was a third party involved in the incident.
If we had a name, you know, we'd be having a different conversation right now. But we have not been able to gather enough information to identify a suspect yet, he said. It appears as if ... this was not just a random attack but that's something that we really have to develop over time.
A resident who lives near the park told police that she heard to loud bangs on the night of incident, but assumed they were firecrackers, according to the Corpus Christi Caller.
News of the incident spread quickly through the small town.
We live on a very quiet street, said Chuck Olson, 58, who lives near park. We have never worried about something like this happening.
Friends of the couple were stunned after the hearing about the incident and struggled to make sense of the tragedy..
I've been trying to think of anybody I know that would try and hurt them for any reason, especially them being a couple, Samantha Garrett, Olgin's roommate, told KZTV. And not one person has ever come to mind.
It's going to be really hard this next week whenever I have to walk past her room and I'm moving stuff out. It's definitely going to be weird.
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