MOBILE, Alabama -- The fatal gun shot that cut down a single mother of two Saturday night occurred in front of her teenage daughter, family members said today.

The daughter, who asked that her name not be used, said she was standing in her front yard when her mother, Wendy Fisher, ran across the street to retrieve their dog.

Fisher yelled at a passing car to slow down because it nearly hit the pet, the daughter said. At that point a black man with short hair got out of the car, she said.

The daughter said she is not sure if he or one of the two or three other men inside the vehicle fired 3 shots. The man who exited the car was wearing blue jeans and a light T-shirt, she said.

“They looked like regular people,” she said.

Homicide investigators continue to follow leads as they search for the gunman, a police spokesman said this morning.



The teenage daughter said Fisher had been raising her and her brother alone since their father died from a drug-related incident 6 or 7 years ago.



A neighbor, who asked not to be identified because she fears for her safety, said she feels especially badly for Fisher’s children, who likely will go to live with their grandfather.

“They missed out on their daddy. Now as teenagers, they have no mother,” she said.

Fisher wanted career in graphic design

The daughter said the family only had moved to Racine Avenue a few months ago. She said Fisher had worked at Haberdasher bar on Dauphin Street but recently lost her job when business got slow. Fisher was taking graphic design classes with dreams of changing careers, the daughter said.

“She loved to draw a lot. She liked to paint and draw,” she said.

The daughter said her mother grew up in Pensacola and loved the beach. She described her as “a very fun, active” person.

“She always liked to make things silly,” she said. “She never liked to be serious.”

The daughter said her mother had been dating a man in the Coast Guard.

The neighbor said Fisher was a hard worker who kept to herself.

“She got along good with everybody. They stayed to themselves. The kids stayed home. They didn’t run around,” she said. “She was one of the best neighbors I ever had.”

Racine Avenue and the nearby streets off of Moffett Road west of University Boulevard, is filled with modest, middle class houses. Many of them feature signs advertising protection by ADT or DRC Security Services.

The neighbor said there has not been a large amount of crime, although she added that there was an unsolved robbery down the street about 6 months to a year ago. And just on Tuesday, a vehicle struck and killed a 56-year-old man who was walking on Overlook Road on the other end of Racine Avenue. Police have described that as an accident.

‘Bam, bam, bam’

Another neighbor, Marie Gorum, said she was home on Saturday evening when she heard 3 distinct shots.

“Three times in a row — bam, bam, bam,” she said. “It was loud.”

Her husband, James Gorum, said he was watching TV at the time and held off briefly before going to his front door. “We looked out the door and in just a few minutes there were all the police and emergency vehicles.

Marie Gorum said it is a nice, normally quiet neighborhood.

“We’ve really enjoyed it for 44 years,” she said.

Another neighbor, though, said it is not the same neighborhood her parents moved into when they bought the house in 1961.

“It’s scary,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified. “This neighborhood has just gone downhill.”

The woman said she was watching a marathon of “NCIS” on television and initially mistook the gunfire for something on the show or leftover fireworks.

“You hear a lot of gunshots on that. And people are still setting off firecrackers,” she said. “I thought, “Oh, God, here we go with the firecrackers again.’ And then I realized there was a difference. I know what a gunshot sounds like.”

_____

Updated at 12:45 p.m. to include reaction from the neighborhood and more information about the victim.

_____

Follow Brendan Kirby on Twitter.