On Tuesday the family of Hope Hensley continued to mourn the loss of the 20-year-old after she was shot and killed inside her family's apartment on Monday morning.
Dallas Police said 24-year-old Curtis Everett Jeter was charged with murder in the woman's death on Tuesday. He's also the same person who was at the center of Monday night's Amber Alert after police said he took his own two kids.
Investigators said Jeter is accused of shooting through the window of an apartment unit at Rosemont at Meadow Lane in Dallas.
"It was scary because I've never seen nobody die right there in front of me and I looked into her eyes," said Lyric Davis, Hensley's youngest sister.
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Davis said she was sitting next to her older sister. Hensley's three children, who are under the age of six, were also sitting in the living room next to them eating cereal just before 10 a.m. on Monday.
“We just started hearing somebody shoot and then we all got up running trying to get all the kids in my mother’s room," Davis said. "She (Hensley) was the last person to get off the couch and she was holding her neck, she was reaching out for me and I felt so bad because I didn’t reach back for her.”
Three bullet holes could be seen through the front window of the unit next to the door. Hensley's father said at least one struck his daughter in the neck.
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"I was the one applying pressure, on the phone 911 operator, I just couldn't save her," said Kenneth Davis who was also home at the time and heard the gunshots.
The family said Jeter and a sister of Hensley's have three kids. Family members said Hensley called child protective services three weeks ago out of concern for her baby niece's health.
"What Hope did for her niece, it was not out of hate, not out of revenge. She did it because she loved her niece and she did it because she knew something was wrong with her niece and she died protecting her niece, so her niece could live," explained Kenneth.
According to the family, the baby girl, along with Jeter's two young sons were taken into CPS custody, but another family member was able to get custody of the two boys shortly after.
Police have not released specific details, but the family said the children's mother was visiting the kids at the other person's house, and shortly after that time is when Hensley was shot and killed. The family member said during that time is when the young boys were taken, which is what prompted the Amber Alert.
Hensley would have turned 21 next week, but instead of celebrating with her, loved ones are reflecting on her memory.
"I can remember me having Hope on my back when she was just a baby, we laid on the floor, she on my back, watching Dora trying to learn Spanish. I just want people to know that she was a good person and we all love her and we going to miss her," said Kenneth about his daughter.
“I could tell her anything and anything, stuff that I couldn’t talk to my mom about, I could talk to her about," said Trinnitty Hensley, 13, about her aunt. "She never judged me, I told her so many secrets about me, and she never told nobody.”
"She was a very good person, she was sweet. She was a very good mother, a very good mother, she loved her kids," said Davis about her older sister.
A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said the two boys and their baby sister are currently in their custody.
Hensley's family is concerned for her three kids who witnessed her death.
"You can never forget that your mom died but I just hope that the image of their mother on the floor gets erased out of their head,” Trinnitty Hensley said.
