A Texas woman is dead after being shot in an alleged carjacking while visiting her cancer-stricken best friend.
Marietta Allison traveled from Austin to Houston to accompany friend Cassie Daniel to her second treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer on Saturday, March 7.
Following a day at the hospital in which Allison took care of Daniel as she received a round of chemotherapy, the pair of friends left around 10:30 p.m. to spend the night at a nearby friend’s house.
When there was no parking at the building, Allison dropped Daniel and her father off and circled the block to find somewhere to leave the car.
“We were putting our things away, and I heard a scream and then a gunshot,” Daniel told Fox News Digital. “I felt like something large dropped to the floor, and I was like, ‘Was that a gunshot?’”
When Daniel realized Allison had not returned from parking the car, she began to worry.
“I stepped out into the living room and told my friends, ‘Was that a gunshot?’” Daniel said. “She was like, ‘Have you heard from Marietta?’ and I said no. And my friend said, ‘Well, I just tried to call her, and she didn’t answer.’”
Feeling as though something was wrong, Daniel went to the last known location of Allison’s phone, where she found Allison lying on the sidewalk surrounded by police officers.
“She was lying on the ground, and the paramedics were around her and I could see her purse down on the sidewalk,” Daniel said, adding Allison’s wallet was left at the scene.
Authorities quickly learned that the vehicle Allison was driving was missing, launching a frantic search for an apparent carjacker as her loved ones watched helplessly as she was transported to a hospital, where she later died from her injuries.
“She was almost instantly killed, if not just a few seconds later,” Daniel told Fox News Digital. “She was shot kind of through the neck and through the head.”
Following a brief search, officers found 18-year-old Darius DeWayne Hall allegedly driving the victim’s stolen vehicle, resulting in a high-speed chase, according to KHOU 11.
Hall subsequently crashed the vehicle along the Southwest Freeway and attempted to flee on foot, sparking an hours-long standoff in a nearby residential area, according to the outlet.
“I opened my door around 4:15 a.m., and there was an officer on his knees with a shield and one behind him with a gun pointing right down the stairs to that unit where they found him,” neighbor Ken Knisely told KHOU 11.
Hall was later taken into custody at around 7 a.m. and charged with capital murder stemming from Allison’s death.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Daniel is choosing to remember Allison as a loving individual who spent her last moments taking care of her friend in need.
“She was literally sitting in the hospital bed, spoon-feeding me a fruit bowl,” Daniel told Fox News Digital as she recalled her final day with Allison. “And I was like, ‘Love like this exists.’”
“So I could see the tender care, compassion, empathy and just the love that was there. And at the same time, I was like, this is a precious moment. I had no idea that it would be one of my last moments with her.”
The Houston Police Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
