Gang Interventionist Shot and Killed in Dallas- Dallas Morning News
Slaying blamed on gangs
Dallas: Teens charged in death of woman in drive-through lane
10:47 PM CDT on Friday, July 15, 2005
By MICHAEL GRABELL and HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News
Sara Linebaugh devoted her spare time to fighting gang violence. She was killed by a stray bullet as she waited for Chinese takeout. And now police have learned that she was the random victim of the very thing she tried to prevent.
Why Ms. Linebaugh was shot two weeks ago outside Wok Express on Buckner Boulevard was a mystery until Thursday night, when Dallas police arrested two teenagers they suspect were involved in a gang-related gunbattle nearby.
Police believe the shooting stemmed from a fight in late May at Samuel Crawford Memorial Park in Pleasant Grove. A month later, the teenagers' friends spotted a car driven by rivals.
Police said Ramiro Angel, 19, and Pedro Valdivia, 17, borrowed a friend's purple Ford Mustang and a .44-caliber Magnum revolver, then trolled the streets looking for the guys from the fight.
According to court documents, Mr. Angel and Mr. Valdivia saw them in a maroon Nissan Altima. They chased them to a CVS Pharmacy near the intersection of Buckner Boulevard and Lake June Road.
Mr. Angel fired a shot that penetrated the car's rear bumper. He fired again.
But this time the bullet traveled more than 50 yards across the parking lot and the four-lane boulevard and pierced the windshield of Ms. Linebaugh's Ford sedan as she sat in the drive-through.
"By God's will nobody else got shot," said homicide Sgt. Ken Lecesne. "There are kids outside playing, and they have a running gunbattle going. They just have no regard for nobody else."
Two days later, Ms. Linebaugh, 52, died at Baylor University Medical Center from a gunshot wound in the head.
Homicide detectives arrested the teenagers about 9 p.m. Thursday at their homes in the 7100 block of Barrett Drive. They found the revolver at the home of Mr. Angel's uncle in Quinlan, about 45 miles east of Dallas, police said.
Mr. Valdivia admitted driving the Mustang, and Mr. Angel admitted firing the shots, court documents said. They were charged with murder and held in Dallas County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
They could not be reached for comment.
Ms. Linebaugh, a Richardson Hebrew-school teacher, started several crime watch groups and received a commendation from the Dallas police chief. The 5-foot-3-inch mother, who also managed apartments, was known to patrol the grounds herself, even at 2 a.m.
"She would tell guys to throw their beers away and go home," her daughter Ronit Frydberg said. "She shooed them away. She wasn't intimidated."
For Ms. Frydberg, news of the arrests allowed her to take a deep breath for the first time since her mother's death.
"It doesn't replace anything or how we feel," she said. "But it does make us feel better that no one else gets hurt by them."
Ms. Linebaugh was a bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah teacher for more than six years at Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest temples in Dallas.
Ms. Frydberg said what upset her the most was that the teenagers took her mother "from the world over a petty argument that accomplishes nothing because they're still fighting."
Ms. Linebaugh found decency in everyone, including the gang members she battled against, Ms. Frydberg said.
"She sees the good in people and doesn't want them to ruin lives when they have gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd," she said.
How her mother became the accidental victim of gang violence infuriates Ms. Frydberg.
"There could have been a kid in the car," she said, her voice cracking. "Because they want to be immature – they have no common sense. I hope they see her face and remember what they did."
Dallas: Teens charged in death of woman in drive-through lane
10:47 PM CDT on Friday, July 15, 2005
By MICHAEL GRABELL and HOLLY YAN / The Dallas Morning News
Sara Linebaugh devoted her spare time to fighting gang violence. She was killed by a stray bullet as she waited for Chinese takeout. And now police have learned that she was the random victim of the very thing she tried to prevent.
Why Ms. Linebaugh was shot two weeks ago outside Wok Express on Buckner Boulevard was a mystery until Thursday night, when Dallas police arrested two teenagers they suspect were involved in a gang-related gunbattle nearby.
Police believe the shooting stemmed from a fight in late May at Samuel Crawford Memorial Park in Pleasant Grove. A month later, the teenagers' friends spotted a car driven by rivals.
Police said Ramiro Angel, 19, and Pedro Valdivia, 17, borrowed a friend's purple Ford Mustang and a .44-caliber Magnum revolver, then trolled the streets looking for the guys from the fight.
According to court documents, Mr. Angel and Mr. Valdivia saw them in a maroon Nissan Altima. They chased them to a CVS Pharmacy near the intersection of Buckner Boulevard and Lake June Road.
Mr. Angel fired a shot that penetrated the car's rear bumper. He fired again.
But this time the bullet traveled more than 50 yards across the parking lot and the four-lane boulevard and pierced the windshield of Ms. Linebaugh's Ford sedan as she sat in the drive-through.
"By God's will nobody else got shot," said homicide Sgt. Ken Lecesne. "There are kids outside playing, and they have a running gunbattle going. They just have no regard for nobody else."
Two days later, Ms. Linebaugh, 52, died at Baylor University Medical Center from a gunshot wound in the head.
Homicide detectives arrested the teenagers about 9 p.m. Thursday at their homes in the 7100 block of Barrett Drive. They found the revolver at the home of Mr. Angel's uncle in Quinlan, about 45 miles east of Dallas, police said.
Mr. Valdivia admitted driving the Mustang, and Mr. Angel admitted firing the shots, court documents said. They were charged with murder and held in Dallas County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
They could not be reached for comment.
Ms. Linebaugh, a Richardson Hebrew-school teacher, started several crime watch groups and received a commendation from the Dallas police chief. The 5-foot-3-inch mother, who also managed apartments, was known to patrol the grounds herself, even at 2 a.m.
"She would tell guys to throw their beers away and go home," her daughter Ronit Frydberg said. "She shooed them away. She wasn't intimidated."
For Ms. Frydberg, news of the arrests allowed her to take a deep breath for the first time since her mother's death.
"It doesn't replace anything or how we feel," she said. "But it does make us feel better that no one else gets hurt by them."
Ms. Linebaugh was a bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah teacher for more than six years at Temple Emanu-El, one of the largest temples in Dallas.
Ms. Frydberg said what upset her the most was that the teenagers took her mother "from the world over a petty argument that accomplishes nothing because they're still fighting."
Ms. Linebaugh found decency in everyone, including the gang members she battled against, Ms. Frydberg said.
"She sees the good in people and doesn't want them to ruin lives when they have gotten mixed up in the wrong crowd," she said.
How her mother became the accidental victim of gang violence infuriates Ms. Frydberg.
"There could have been a kid in the car," she said, her voice cracking. "Because they want to be immature – they have no common sense. I hope they see her face and remember what they did."
posted by Steve Nawojczyk at
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