ASSAILANTS MISSED MARK, POLICE SAY

A 67-year-old woman was killed over the weekend when drug dealers,
apparently bent on revenge, poured gunfire into the wrong southeast Dallas
apartment, police said.

"They fired into an apartment that was occupied by innocent victims," said
homicide Sgt. Larry Lewis. "It's a wonder that more people weren't killed.
It was quite apparent that they were wanting to fill the inside of that
apartment with bullets."

Nadine McGee was shot in the hip about 8:48 p.m. Saturday in her apartment
at the Oak Hollow complex, in the 400 block of Oak Hollow Drive. She died
about an hour later at Baylor University Medical Center.

Several children in the apartment escaped injury when more than 20 rounds
came through the apartment's windows and walls, hitting Ms. McGee and two
others.

Raymond Cain, 28, was treated for thigh and foot wounds and was released
from Baylor, police said, and Brian Lamont Cain, 22, was grazed on the arm.

Police had made no arrests by late Sunday but said they had several leads.

"It looks like they were firing indiscriminately," Sgt. Lewis said. "These
victims just happened to be caught in the cross-fire."

Sgt. Lewis said the assailants apparently had argued with rivals over drugs
earlier and thought they were in Ms. McGee's apartment.

While investigating the shooting, officers found more than a half-pound of
marijuana wrapped in 55 individual bags in a nearby apartment, according to
a police report.

The complex is one of the most dangerous drug sites in southeast Dallas,
said Sgt. Andrew Davis of the southeast substation. Police receive frequent
calls about disturbances, violent crimes and drug dealing there.

"We don't send any less than two men out there," Sgt Davis said.

The complex has also been the scene of other troubles.

In July, a man was found shot to death in the complex's parking lot. Later
that month, three children died of smoke inhalation in a fire after being
left alone.

And in October, residents from Oak Hollow and a neighboring complex staged a
protest at the downtown offices of the apartments' owners. The residents
complained about sewage backups, ceilings that were near collapse and open
drug dealing.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have
announced plans to foreclose on the complexes and sell them early next year.

Saturday's barrage left several residents afraid for their lives.

An elderly neighbor of Ms. McGee's, who would not give her name, said she
hid inside her apartment, barely daring to look out the window when the
shooting started.

"I got myself out of the way," she said. "At the time it happened, I was in
my kitchen."

After 27 years at the complex, she said, she had grown used to gunfire.

"You hear a lot of shooting," she said, "but it never got that close
before."

A 21-year-old woman who asked that her name not be used said she was
desperate to escape the area's volatile mixture of drugs and guns.

"I'm the parent of two kids, and I'm ready to move," she said. "I'm afraid
to let my kids go outside and play."

Checked-by: Don Beck