Mollie Judith Olgin and Mary Kristene Chapa
Police released a suspect description Thursday in the shooting of a teenage lesbian couple near Corpus Christi last weekend, according to the Caller-Times:
An eyewitness described the suspect as a white male in his 20s with dark hair standing 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds. …
Several vehicles were seen at the park the evening of the shootings, and police ask anyone who visited the park Friday night to contact the Portland Police Department. Anyone with information on the identity of the suspect is asked to call police at 361-777-4444. Callers may remain anonymous.
Mollie Judith Olgin, 19, and Mary Kristene Chapa, 18, were both shot in the head at Violet Andrews Park in Portland, Texas, last Friday night. Visitors to the park discovered the pair the next morning. Olgin died at the scene, and Chapa was rushed to the hospital, where she is recovering. The couple had been together for five months.
Many in the LGBT community have speculated that the shootings were a hate crime. However, Portland police maintain there’s no evidence the attack was related to the women’s sexual orientation.
Memorials have been organized across the country for the couple, including a candle-lit walk planned for this Friday night at the park where the they were shot, and a vigil at the Legacy of Love Monument in Dallas on Saturday. (Watch video below of a vigil in San Francisco on Wednesday.)
NBCLatino.com reports that Chapa is making an “amazing” recovery, according to her brother Hilario:
Hilario, a tech sergeant in the Air Force reserve, who served with the 82nd airborne division, says his sister took sign language in high school and has been able to communicate in that way. He says she has made physical progress on her right side but they are still waiting for a response from the left side of her body.
“The doctors say it’s too early, no one is using the word paralyzed,” he says. “They say we should be so happy with her progress after 3 or 4 days. She’s very strong. She survived a very tough ordeal but her recovery is coming in strides and impressing everybody.”
As of now her brother says there is no timeline for when she can come out of the intensive care unit and because of the investigation he is hesitant to share many details about the search for a suspect.
“We don’t know who did this to her, she hasn’t given us a name,” he says. “We’re under the impression she doesn’t know who did it. We don’t know if it’s a hate crime.”
