Almost 10 days after a 76-year-old woman was found shot to death during a welfare call in Texas City, police say the woman’s daughter has been charged. now there is a case of murder.
Irene Gray was found dead on October 13 at a home in the 900 block of N. Amburn Road. Authorities said they were responding to a call of a welfare concern when they found him with “injuries consistent with gunshot wounds.”
On Monday, police announced that Gray’s daughter, Sherene Lavett Washington-Harper, 54, was arrested on Oct. 20 on a warrant for murder.
“It’s hard to believe that he could do such a horrible thing,” said Irene Smith, Gray’s granddaughter. “I hope so, I can’t.”
Smith said there was tension between his grandmother and his mother, Washington-Harper, that led to the murder. She said her grandmother wanted her mother out of her home and alleged that Washington-Harper was using drugs.
“I always knew from coming to the crime scene from the looks of my mother and my brother that something was off,” Smith said. “No tears. No pain. It’s just a normal day for them.”
Smith said he talked to his grandmother the night before she was killed, and things seemed normal. The next morning, around 8 a.m., she received a call from her children, who were spending the night with their grandmother, saying that something had happened to Gray.
ABC13 stopped by the home where Gray was found dead twice in the following days and spoke with a woman believed to be Washington Harper. He wouldn’t open the door anytime soon. The day after the murder, he said he was really scared and had no idea who would do this to his sweet mother.
“No,” Smith replied when asked if he had spoken to his mother since the arrest. “I really don’t.
Smith describes her grandmother, whom she named, as beautiful, energetic, and a cowgirl. He said he finds a sense of peace in the loss, knowing that his grandmother touched many lives.
Harper-Washington is being held on a $250,000 bond.
Smith started a GoFundMe to help the family with expenses associated with the loss.
