HOUSTON — A woman has been charged in the weekend shooting death of a young family member outside a northside funeral home, according to the Houston Police Department.
Queen Smith Jackson aka Queen Ester Williams, 67, was arrested at the scene on Saturday, April 8, and later charged with manslaughter.
HPD homicide detectives say it started with an argument between family members at a funeral service at McDuffie's Mortuary on West Hamilton Street near Yale. It spilled into the parking lot and that's where the 22-year-old victim was shot and killed.
Jackson, a school bus driver for Sheldon ISD, admitted shooting the gun but claimed she just meant to fire it in the air, according to HPD.
"She states she attempted to fire it and it failed to discharge," a prosecutor said in court Monday. "She lowers it and held it, her hand pointed away from her and the gun struck the 22-year-old in the side of the head."
Some family members believe it was an accident but one woman who said she saw the whole thing isn't buying it.
"It was a murder, it was a murder. She didn't shoot in the air, she shot in the back of his head," the woman, who didn't want to give her name, said at the scene. "What I'm seeing and hearing about an accidental shooting in the air, that's not what happened."
A judge set Jackson's bond at $50,000.
Jackson's attorney said the victim was her great-nephew and the funeral where the shooting happened was for her brother.
Now the family already mourning the loss of one loved one has to bury a second family member.