‘She never hurt anybody’: 20-year-old killed in bed as shooters open fire on Cypress-area home – Houston Chronicle

Moments after Michael Rhodd got up to check on his 20-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy, he said he heard gunshots Sunday night around their Cypress-area home.

I got my wife, Rhodd said. I tried to run to my kids.

By the time the father reached Sierra Rhodds bedroom, he said she was dead. She had been shot to death as she lay in bed.

I tried to do everything I could, said Michael Rhodd. I couldnt do nothing.

The Harris County Sheriffs Office late Monday charged 18-year-old Emma Presler with murder in connection with the shooting. She is currently booked in Harris County Jail on an unrelated charge. No other charges have been filed.

Investigators said the shooting was retaliatory but that Sierra Rhodd was not the intended victim. Michael Rhodd said his 15-year-old son had recently gotten into a physical altercation with a group of young men and boys. The sheriffs office later confirmed that dispute was the motive.

Around 11:10 p.m. at least three assailants opened fire on the home in the 11200 block of Timber Crest Drive, near Jones road, police said. Michael Rhodd said he saw around seven people outside of his home when he went outside to try to get a glimpse of the shooters. Rhodd said they began firing in his direction when they saw him and he had to retreat back inside.

No one else inside the home was injured, according to authorities.

The shooters were believed to have been in three different vehicles including a stolen motorcycle when Sgt. Greg Pinkins, of the Harris County Sheriffs Office, said the shooters brazenly opened fire in front of the home and behind it with four people inside. Investigators found different caliber rounds through the property.

It wasnt a typical drive-by when you shoot out the window, Pinkins said. It was a situation where it appears these individuals got out of the vehicles and shot at the house.

Two of the vehicles fled the home after the shooting but the motorcycle was ditched.

The driver of a red truck was stopped near the scene of the shooting but police were not yet sure if the driver was linked to the attack.

All I know is, I want him caught, Rhodd said of the killer.

Sierra Rhodd had recently started a new job at Hobby Lobby, her father said.

She never hurt anybody, he said. She was always worried how everybody else felt.

nicole.hensley@chron.com

hannah.dellinger@chron.com

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'She never hurt anybody': 20-year-old killed in bed as shooters open fire on Cypress-area home - Houston Chronicle