Woman shot outside Harris County Walmart during suspected child custody dispute

Woman shot during child custody dispute

A woman was shot outside of a Katy-area Walmart after an incident that started as a child custody dispute, deputies say.

HOUSTON - A shooting that left a woman injured outside of a west Harris County Walmart appears to have stemmed from a child custody dispute, the sheriff’s office says.

Woman shot outside Walmart

Timeline:

Authorities say a shooting was reported outside of the Walmart at 6060 North Fry Road, near West Little York Road, around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday.

While deputies were responding to the scene, they came across a crash down the road at North Fry Road and Coldfield Drive. They found a woman with a gunshot wound to the leg in the car. She was taken to the hospital and was last reported to be in stable condition.

Authorities say a man and a child were also in the vehicle, but they were not injured.

The backstory:

According to the sheriff’s office, the woman is believed to have been shot in the parking lot of the Walmart.

Authorities say the woman, her boyfriend and the boyfriend’s child were at the Walmart when they ran into some family members of the child’s mother. They went outside.

There was a disturbance in the parking lot, which ended with the mother’s family members firing shots, the sheriff’s office said.

The father’s girlfriend was shot in the leg. They got into their car and drove away, but the suspects chased after them briefly before the vehicle the wounded woman was in crashed, the sheriff’s office says.

The suspects drove away from the scene.

The sheriff’s office says the child was in the car at the time of the shooting and was not injured.

Authorities believe the incident stemmed from a child custody dispute earlier in the day.