The small town of Hearne, Texas, is mourning a 93-year-old woman shot dead outside her home by a police officer Tuesday. The city attorney says Pearlie Golden was shot by Officer Stephen Stem, who was responding to a 911 call about a woman waving a firearm around and had asked her to drop the gun at least three times, CNN reports. She was shot at least twice. A few days earlier, the Texas Department of Public Safety had refused to renew Golden's license. Her nephew called 911 when she threatened him with a gun after he tried to take her keys away, reports KBTX.
Local residents describe Golden as a sweet woman. "Even if she did have a gun, she is in her 90s," a neighbor says. "They could have shot in the air to scare her. Maybe she would have dropped it. I don't see her shooting anyone." The city attorney says the city government is "saddened" and "disappointed" by the shooting. "Now, the investigation is out of our hands," he says. "It's under the Texas Rangers, which is where we want it to be." Stem, who has been with the police department since 2012, was cleared of wrongdoing after another fatal shooting a few months after he joined the force. (More Texas stories.)
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