A Dallas mother helping her daughter get ready for prom was killed Saturday when she got caught in the crossfire of a shootout between two vehicles, police and her family said.
The Saturday shooting, one day before Mother’s Day, unfolded around 4 p.m. in the 2100 block of North Masters Drive, Dallas police said.
Two vehicles were shooting at one another as they drove eastbound on Bruton Road and four people were shot: Ana Moreno, 39, was killed, and three male victims were hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.
Police described Moreno as a bystander and said “a bullet entered Moreno’s vehicle and hit her causing her death.”
Moreno was driving with her daughter, Amy, a senior in high school, to get her hair done and pick up her prom dress when the shooting happened, Moreno’s family said.
The family learned the stark news when Amy texted the family group chat, Michelle Rodriguez, Moreno’s youngest of three children, told NBC Dallas–FortWorth.
“All she heard was gunshots and she said my mom made a signal like she couldn’t breathe, and then she leaned on Amy’s shoulder and that’s when they crashed, and that’s when Amy said she called the ambulance,” Michelle Rodriguez told the station.
She said her mother was looking forward to celebrating the milestone with her daughter. “She was like ‘Oh we finally get to see her get ready’ and she didn’t even get to see it happen,” said Michelle Rodriguez.
Members of the family who were at Moreno’s home waiting to celebrate Amy’s prom instead rushed to the shooting scene.
“It hurts, it really does hurt, because we all had such a great bond with my mom, and it hurts that we lost her so early,” Rodriguez said on losing her mom one day before Mother’s Day.
“They took her from us, it’s not fair, she had so much potential, she was so outgoing, she was hard-working, she had everything,” she added.
A fundraiser to help the family’s funeral expenses has raised over $5,000 as of Monday.
There are no suspects in custody, and the shooting is under investigation.
