Arlington Police are hoping surveillance video will help them track down two men for questioning about the murder of a woman. Police say she was killed while trying to raise money to buy Christmas gifts.
Detectives believe 33-year-old April Vancleave arranged to meet people at a Target at South Cooper and Arbrook in Arlington to sell them some jewelry and then use the money to buy Christmas presents.
Vancleave thought she was doing everything right, meeting in a busy public place, with her husband.
"They went to the Target, they went inside, they couldn't find the potential buyers, as the buyers described themselves," said Arlington Police Lt. Christopher Cook.
So the couple left, but police believe two men may have followed them. Surveillance video shows the men leave the Target and get in a red pickup truck. Witnesses described a similar-looking truck at the shooting scene.
"We believe that the suspects potentially followed their vehicle to her apartment complex," Cook said.
Police say Vancleave's husband dropped her off outside their apartment complex in the 3500 block of Timberwood Circle. Then he drove off to work. That's when witnesses say the gunmen approached Vancleave and stole her purse.
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"There was some type of struggle, they heard the woman yelling, screaming and then they heard one shot being fired," said Cook.
Vancleave was pronounced dead at the hospital.
"It was alarming. We were all trying to figure out what happened," said Andra Burk.
Burk and her friends shop at the South Cooper Target and Burk regularly sells things online, meeting buyers in public for the exchange. But not anymore.
“It definitely makes you second guess ever doing any kind of online sales or anything like that," Burk said.
And from a second guess, to a second look, police hope someone will recognize the men in the surveillance video, to bring answers to a heartbroken family.
"Everyone's pretty shook up, I mean the entire community,” said Lt. Cook. “When you hear something like this, it just seems so random."
Arlington police say meeting someone you found online is always a risk. But if you do want to meet an online buyer or seller, they suggest doing it at Arlington police headquarters, in the lobby or the parking lot, surrounded by cameras.
Oak Farms Dairy is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an indictment in this incident.
Anyone with information about this crime should call Arlington Police at 817-274-4444 or Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477 (TIPS).
