Woman Gunned Down In Front Of Three Daughters While Taking Them To School

A 28-year-old Texas woman was killed in front of her three young girls, moments after she left her house to take them to school. Investigators say they have detained a person in connection with the incident.

Samantha Lopez was gunned down in front of her daughters -- aged 2, 6, and 10 -- at an apartment complex off Harlow Drive just after 7 a.m. Monday, authorities said. Reports say a man remains in custody but no criminal charges have been filed against him.

Speaking at the crime scene to reporters, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said investigators were “relatively certain” that the man detained was Lopez’s estranged husband, KSAT reported.

Police in San Antonio, Texas, say the three girls were unharmed and placed in the custody of a relative.

"I lost a daughter, and that is hard. A big ole' demon came and did what he did and destroyed a family," said Rosemary Gonzales, the victim's mother.

"A mother losing her life, being shot in the presence of her children — it just doesn’t get any worse than that," Marta Pelaez, CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services told KSAT.

Police say the person detained had been arrested multiple times for violating a protective order Lopez filed in 2019. "She had a protective order, and it didn't work," said the deceased woman’s mother.

The suspect was out on bond for the violation of the protective order, reported KENS.

Speaking of her daughter’s estranged husband, Gonzales said: "They might know he did it. A lot [of] people know that he did it. But, there is not proof as of yet."

"A coward doesn't shoot from behind and once she is down and shoot her again. That's awful, that is an awful death for her," said Gonzales at the vigil held Tuesday for Lopez.

San Antonio Police Dept. Chief William McManus said, “the justice system failed this family and there needs to be a system in place to keep family violence victims safe.”

Officials have urged anyone with information about Lopez's murder to contact the San Antonio Police Department's Homicide Unit at 210-207-7635.