Dallas

Witness Describes Hearing Fatal Uptown Shooting

There is new information about a deadly shooting at an Uptown apartment parking garage.

A witness tells NBC 5 he heard one shot as he was going up to his apartment Wednesday night, but says his son was still in the garage and actually got a glance at the possible killer, who remains on the run.

"First, it was a loud scream and then a 'Boom,'" the father said. "And he didn't hear anything after that."

That's what the man says his son heard when 35-year-old Kendra Hatcher was gunned down inside the garage at her residence, the Gables Park 17 apartments on Cedar Springs Road. The witness is a teenager and his father wants to keep both of their identities concealed since the killer is still on the loose.

"He told me the guy was in a black hoodie and black mask," said the father.

Police are looking for an older model Jeep Cherokee in connection to the shooting. The witness says he saw the shooter get in the driver's seat and believes that person acted alone, however, police have not indicated that the person in the Jeep is a suspect or person of interest.

"We believe that the occupant or occupants of that vehicle have information that would be of benefit to detectives investigating the case," said Sgt. Max Geron, with the Dallas Police Department's Crimes Against Persons Division, in a Thursday news conference. "I'll stop short of even saying that that individual was the one that fired the shots. We simply don't know -- we don't have a motive at this point."

Hatcher was a well-respected dentist, spoke Spanish and was good with kids. Her family says she had a bright future and was planning to move to San Francisco.

But on Wednesday night, she was killed at a place she called home.

"He [my son] was calling me, just freaking out, 'A lady just got shot in our parking lot,'" said the father.

Outside the garage, a makeshift memorial is dedicated to Hatcher with flowers, candles and pictures of her. At Smile Zone Dentistry in Irving where she worked, there were more signs in honor of the young dentist.

"It makes you think because you're doing the same thing that this lady did," said the father. "You're coming home, you're thinking about what you're going to do for dinner or what do you have to do tomorrow or what do you have to do tonight, and her life changed in 30 seconds."

Friday night, some of the residents at the apartment complex held their own meeting about what new safety policies and procedures they would like to see put in place and eventually present that to the property management, Gables Residential.

Contact Us