HOUSTON – A funeral was held Saturday morning for a 40-year-old mother died who was killed when she tried to fight off an armed robber outside her apartment complex in southwest Houston.
Several people gathered at Christ the Incarnate Word Catholic Church at 8503 S. Kirkwood to remember Ha Tran, a mother of four children.
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Police she had just parked her minivan outside her apartment complex, in the 8100 block of Maplecrest Drive around 9:30 p.m on April 22, when a man approached her and demanded her money and cell phone.
Han fought back, and the gunman shot her twice and then ran away.
Stunned neighbors heard the gunshots and rushed outside.
"When I saw the van I knew who it was and I started crying. I was really upset. I said a little prayer hoping she would be OK,," neighbor Cinee Franklin said.
Han was rushed to Southwest Memorial Hospital in critical condition, where she later died.
Tran's husband, Bobby Cao, is trying to be strong for his children but seems lost without her by his side.
"We moved from our country, Vietnam," he told KPRC 2 News. "(We came) over here (and) we tried working hard. (We) tried to build our lives, and now it's gone," Cao said.
Han and her husband moved to Houston two years ago from Kansas because they wanted to make a better life for their four children.
Homicide detectives with the Houston Police Department believe the gunman could be linked to another robbery at the same apartment complex 30 minutes earlier. Police say he appeared to be in his early 20s and was wearing a red cap and a black shirt. He was last seen in a white, four-door sedan.
Police said in that case, two men robbed a woman at the back of the complex. The woman gave up her purse and cellphone to the thieves, and left the area.