14-year-old Girl Killed After Sneaking Out of House

[TXCharlie]

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/138115.html
'When we went to bed ... she was here.'

BY PAUL BOURGEOIS
pbourgeois@star-telegram.com


PHOTO COURTESY OF ABBOTT FAMILY/Handout

Tessa Abbott, 14, died early Friday from a gunshot wound, the Tarrant Medical Medical Examiner reported.

• Location of fatal shooting | PDF

ARLINGTON, TX -- The parents of a 14-year-old Arlington girl learned from police early Friday that their daughter sneaked out of the house during the night and was killed at an overnight party. “When we went to bed about 10 p.m., she was here,” Marlon Abbott said of his daughter.

Tessa Abbott died at 12:52 a.m. Friday from a gunshot wound, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner reported.

Diana A. Womack, 17, was in the Arlington Jail early Friday facing manslaughter charges in connection with the death, said Lt. Blake Miller, a police spokesman. Womack was arrested about 7 a.m. Bail was set at $25,000. The shooting occurred at a duplex in the 2500 block of Hollandale Circle in east Arlington, just south of the General Motor Assembly Plant.

Miller said several teenagers and young adults were having a party at the duplex apartment. Details are sketchy, but Miller said it appeared no parents were present.

Miller said alcohol was involved and that at some point people started handling a handgun. It discharged, Miller said.
Marlon Abbott said he and his wife were awakened by police at 5:30 a.m. with the terrible news.

Becky Abbott said she didn’t know how her daughter was shot or the location of her gunshot wound.

She said it was her understanding that it wasn’t really a party, just a gathering of friends.

Becky Abbott, who was interviewed at her southwest Arlington home, said she didn’t know how her daughter got to the Hollandale address, which is almost 13 miles from her house.
Abbott said her family moved to southwest Arlington last weekend. Tessa was to start ninth grade at Martin High School this fall.

Becky Abbott said she didn’t recall ever meeting Womack.
She said she didn’t know all her daughter’s friends or if she had left their home before in the middle of the night.
“You know how teenagers are,” she said with a shrug.

[Rhino]

“You know how teenagers are,” she said with a shrug.

Yeah, they shoot each other all the time. Shit happens, right?

Mom sounds like a real piece of work. Sounds like she's the one that needs to be in jail- for shitty parenting.

[Ducky]

I can see how that last sentence was taken out of context. There's mom, crying, trying to mourn her daughter, and the reporter is peppering her with questions. Mom is still trying to make sense of it too, and the reporter just wants a story. "Did she ever sneak out before?" and the mom didn't even know the kid had snuck out that night. Teenagers are sneaky like that. If she hadn't been caught before, mom very well may not know if she'd done it before.