Dallas police have arrested and have in custody a suspect in the murder of Kendra Hatcher, who was shot in her parking garage at the Gables Park 17 Wednesday evening.
Dental assistant Crystal Cortes of Dallas is being held on a capital murder charge. She apparently told investigators she was the one who drove Kendra Hatcher’s killer to the Gables Park 17 parking garage on Wednesday. If you look closely at the police photos, you can see the driver’s face looks like that of a woman.
But Dallas Police have not said a word about whether Cortes knew the victim, where the killer might be, or who he is.
What’s important here is this: Cortes told detectives that robbery was the motive for the murder. She admitted someone paid her $500 to drive the gunman to kill Hatcher.
Although surveillance images released last week show only a driver in the Jeep, police said they corroborated Cortes’ account with witnesses and video evidence.
The Jeep followed another vehicle into the garage and waited, according to an affidavit. Later, after Hatcher pulled into a parking space, a man got out of the Jeep and shot her. As she lay dying beside her car, the man took some of her belongings.
This is important, because in the wake of this crime, many believed this shooting was isolated and minimized the need for additional security in a luxury building with a long list of security breaches.
There is a young security guard now on duty at the Gables Park 17. He is a young man, he is not carrying a gun, though he is licensed to carry. He is concerned about the residence, tenants tell me, though the security company he works for never told him a murder had taken place in the parking garage. He learned about it from the tenants.
His company initially thought the murder of Dr. was likely calculated and therefore he doesn’t need protection.
After Kendra’s murder, Gables management company kept nervous building tenants informed of “the incident” this way:
From: “Kimberly Waller” <[email protected]>
Date: September 3, 2015 at 4:45:08 PM CDT
To:
Subject: News Update
Reply-To: [email protected]
Notification from: Park 17 (Gables Park Seventeen)
Dear Residents,
Please see News update regarding the incident from last night.
Park 17 Management Team
And then when residents asked about extra security…
Notification from: Park 17 (Gables Park Seventeen)
Dear Resident,
We wanted to share that we currently have no further information regarding the incident. The police are still conducting an investigation. We have received a couple of inquiries regarding additional security and we have added additional 24-hour security to the garage at this time. In addition, Granite (the office mgmt. group), has added 24-hour security covering the shared garage via golf cart.
We want to thank you for your support during all of this. As a community, we have expressed our condolences to the victim’s family and our prayers are with them during this very tough time.
Sincerely,
Park 17 Management Team
This is the trusty young man now keeping that building safe.
