This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The nephew of a 93-year-old Texas woman who was shot and killed by a police officer has said his aunt fired two shots before the officer shot her.

On Saturday, officials in the small Central Texas town of Hearne voted Saturday to fire the police officer concerned. The city council's unanimous vote to dismiss Officer Stephen Stem came after a meeting that lasted less than 30 minutes, local television station KBTX-TV reported.

Mayor Ruben Gomez had said he would recommend the termination of Stem, who shot and killed Pearlie Golden on Tuesday night. Gomez made the promise to demonstrators who marched to city hall protesting the shooting of “Miss Sulie”, as many residents called Golden.

Meanwhile, Roy Jones told KBTX-TV he had taken Golden, his aunt, to renew her driver's licence on Tuesday, but she was denied after failing her test. As Jones took his aunt back to her home, he could tell she was upset, he said.

Jones said he was later sitting with his aunt on her front porch when Golden demanded her keys back. He refused, so Golden went into the house and got her .38-calibre handgun. Jones ran into the house and called police, he told the station.

Jones says Golden fired two shots into the ground when an officer told her to drop her gun.

Hearne police said in a statement that Golden "brandished a gun" when officer Stem arrived. A preliminary autopsy showed Golden was shot twice and grazed by a third bullet, the Robertson county district attorney, Coty Siegert, has said.

Hearne police have declined to comment beyond the statement issued this week. Stem was placed on administrative leave, and the Texas Rangers are investigating the shooting.



Siegert told KBTX-TV that because the case was still under investigation, he could neither confirm nor deny that Golden fired her gun.

Dozens of protesters marched to police headquarters on Thursday and were met there by Mayor Gomez. "It's a loss of confidence in the community. We can't have an officer the citizens have lost confidence in," Gomez said.

However, Stem's attorney, Robert McCabe, told the station that he believes his client's actions were justified under the circumstances and called the mayor's comments inappropriate and unprofessional.

"He probably knows less facts about what occurred than I do," McCabe said.

