A Texas woman’s estranged husband killed her and seven of her guests at an NFL viewing party on Sunday, according to her mother.
Meredith Hight, 27, had been hosting friends at her home in Plano when her husband, furious about Meredith filing for divorce, entered and began killing people, mom Debbie Lane told WFAA 8.
‘She was a cook, and a quite fine one, and she loved hosting friends and families,’ Lane said of her daughter.
‘This was her first opportunity to do it after the divorce and he didn’t take it well.’
Meredith Hight (pictured), 27, was killed when her estranged husband opened fire on her and several friends while they watched the Dallas Cowboys game on Sunday, her mom said
She and six others died on the scene; an eighth died in hospital. A police officer, seeing bodies and hearing gunfire, then raced in and shot the killer. No-one else has yet been identified
The gunman has not yet been identified, although court records show that Hight had filed for divorce from a Spencer Hight earlier in the year, Dallas News reported.
She had cited ‘discord or conflict of personalities,’ but did not file a restraining order. Monday would have been the sixth anniversary of their wedding.
The killer was himself shot dead by a police officer responding to a call of gunfire in the home at around 8pm.
Plano PD Chief Gregory Rushin said the officer saw bodies in the yard and raced into the house, located on the 1700 block of West Spring Creek Parkway, before backup could arrive.
‘When something like this occurs, you can’t wait, you have to go in, ’cause seconds matter,’ Rushin said.
Hight, a native of Georgia, had been watching the Atlanta Falcons game with her friends, who were viewing the subsequent Cowboys game when the killer entered.
Police are seen here outside the Plano, Texas home on Sunday. Meredith, a Georgia native, had filed for divorce earlier in the year but had not demanded a restraining order
Police are waiting until relatives have been notified before naming anyone. A friend said Meredith and her husband used shocking language when they argued
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, eight people, including the killer, were reported dead.
However, the body count has now creeped up to nine after one of the victims died in hospital. A second person remains hospitalized. Their condition is unknown.
Police have not confirmed the identity of the gunman, or that Meredith was a victim.
They are waiting until all of the victims’ next of kin are notified before revealing them to anyone – even Lane.
‘I really wish we knew who the other victims were,’ she said. ‘They were all close, dear friends. We don’t know.’
All of those injured or killed are believed to be in their 20s or 30s. No officers from the north Dallas suburb were injured.
Denton resident Genevieve Morrissy, a friend of Hight’s, said the slain woman was a ‘beam of sunshine’ but had a sharp tongue around her husband – and vice versa.
‘I always felt that their arguing got kind of ugly sometimes,’ Morrissy said.
‘He would say something to her and I would think, “Wow, if my husband ever spoke to me like that – I can’t believe he does that.” And then she’d turn around and give it right back to him.’
Meredith is seen here with friends in a happier time. There is no indication that either of these women were involved in the shooting
Texas Rangers are investigating the case as it was an officer-involved shooting. The officer is now on paid leave, per standard protocol
Officers broke down the door of Spencer Hight’s apartment on on Ohio Drive Monday morning. The search warrant information hasn’t yet been made public.
‘I’ve been here all my life,’ Officer David Tilley, a police spokesman, told the Dallas Morning News. ‘I’ve never heard of anything like this.’
Witness Crystal Sugg, who works nearby the scene, described to Fox 4 what she saw outside the home before shooting started.
Sugg said she saw a man arguing with a woman, but couldn’t really hear what the disagreement was about.
‘And as they were arguing, the woman was trying to go back in,’ Sugg said. ‘As she was going back in the house, you see the man pull out his gun and started releasing.
‘So as he released, I ran back in because I didn’t want to get hit by nothing.’
Steven Featherland said he heard between 30 to 40 rounds go off at the scene of the shooting.
‘I pulled up and cops were already positioning themselves,’ he said.
Another neighbor, Lauryn Nichols, said she had a friend who was in the house, but is not sure if her friend made it out or not.
‘I’m worried,’ Nichols told the newspaper. ‘It’s like one big family here in Plano.’
The Texas Rangers are assisting the investigation because a Plano officer was involved, according to the newspaper.
The officer involved in the shooting has been put on paid administrative leave, per standard protocol.