Pregnant woman, 24, shot dead while sleeping after stray bullet from argument outside passes through wall

Dixie Mendez, 24, lost her life on Saturday while she was sleeping at a 15-year-old's birthday party

Mendez was pregnant and was shot after argument broke out outside Houston property

Police have appealed to the public to help identify the shooter



A birthday party in Houston descended into tragedy on Saturday night after a 24-year-old pregnant woman was fatally shot in bed by a stray bullet fired from an AR-15 assault rifle while she slept in a back bedroom.



Houston Police were called to a house in Hiram Springs at around 1am after an argument began outside among some of the revelers at the 15-year-old's birthday party, one of whom let off a round that struck Dixie Mendez in the head after traveling through a wall.



'I am the one who found her,; said Mendez's friend Karrysha Turner. 'I watched her take her last breath. I just want whoever did this to be found. I went in the room, I called her name, I seen her head shaking. I called her name again, and I said: 'Dixie please answer me.' They pulled the covers, and she was gone. She was gone.'

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Sleeping: Dixie Mendez was struck in the head while she slept at a 15-year-old's birthday party in Houston, Texas on Saturday night

Crime scene: Houston Police Department attend the crime scene where someone armed with an AR-15 rifle opened fire on the house that Dixie Mendez was sleeping in

Police have appealed to the public to help identify the person who opened fire on the Hiram Springs property, who also struck a neighbors garage five times in the chaotic aftermath of Mendez's shooting.



'During the party there was a female in the back not related to the shooting when someone was shooting from outside and she was hit,' said Wendell Gilbert with the Houston Police Homicide Division to ABC 13.

Friends said that Mendez had only recently learned that she was pregnant and had retired to a back room during the party because she was tired.



'Her last words to me were, 'I love you, be careful, call when you get home.' I didn't get a chance to call when I got home,' said the victim's friend Chassidy Sanders to ABC 13.

Point of impact: The stray bullet fired outside by the suspect during the argument entered the house in Houston here (chalk square)

Tragedy: The shooting occurred as 50 revelers were celebrating the birthday party of a teenager on Saturday night

Friends of Mendez said that the are shocked by her sudden passing and can't believe the party was hit by gun violence.



'She keeps a smile on her face all the time, and now I can't see her anymore,' said Turner. 'The last time I am going to see her is in her casket.'



Other friends were furious that of the 50 people at the party on Saturday night, Mendez was the one who was shot, even though she knew nothing about it.



'She was the innocent bystander,' said friend Britany Mathis to KHOU. 'The bullet came through the wall, and now she's gone. She's the one that ended up dead.'



Her father arrived on the scene and told reporters he simply can't believe his only daughter had been shot dead at a birthday party.



Police said they spent eight hours at the scene and appealed for anyone to come forward and help them.



'It's really gotten bad over here. You are kind of scared to come out at night,' said neighbor Daphaney Davin.

