A small town in central Texas was rocked by the news that 93-year-old Pearlie Golden was killed by a police officer after she allegedly brandished a gun.
The shooting happened in Hearne, a town of about 4,500 people that’s 140 miles south of Dallas, where Golden was affectionately known to her neighbors as Ms. Sully.
According to Robertson County District Attorney Coty Siegert, Golden, an African-American woman, was gunned down Tuesday night by Officer Steven Stem, who is white. He was responding to a 911 call about a disturbance involving a woman with a gun, and when he arrived Golden “brandished a firearm,” according to the written report by the Hearne Police Department.
In response, Stem shot her multiple times.
Officers found a revolver believed to be her weapon at the scene. Golden was taken to a hospital in nearby Bryan, where she died from the injuries.
The matter is being investigated by the Texas Rangers.
“She did have a gun. … Now, what she was doing with it, that is the ultimate question,” Siegert told the Associated Press.
According to city attorney Bryan Russ Jr., Stem will be put on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol when an officer is involved in a shooting.
“What we believe is that she was instructed to drop the weapon; that is my understanding,” Russ said.
