BEAUMONT, Texas — Neighbors describe the moments a Beaumont woman was killed after firing shots at officers who were serving an arrest and search warrant Friday morning.
Victoria Meza, 43, was shot and killed by Beaumont officers in the 700 block of Palm St. after she started shooting at them as they served a warrant.
Those officers were forced to return fire.
12News spoke off camera with the man who was on the porch with Meza when police arrived. He says police did not identify themselves, but gave Meza and him instructions to walk towards them with their eyes shut.
He says police told Meza they didn't believe she could not walk to them.
The man said Meza wheeled herself inside her home and then started shooting at an officer. Police fired back, killing her.
A neighbor was able to describe the scene of the officer-involved shooting.
"I looked out the window, I seen several officers and people with guns and as I walked away from the window, a little bit after that, I hear gunshots," he said. "There's like, it wasn't no one or two, it was two 2 like [makes gunshot noises]. They went, then there was a little pause for a little while and then they had some more gunshots."
Beaumont police says Meza fired shots at officers, striking the ballistic shield an officer was carrying and injured an officer.
Neighbors are still trying to make sense of what they saw during the Friday morning incident.
"The woman, she's in a wheelchair," said one neighbor. "I had just seen her sitting on the porch."
That same neighbor looked out the window and saw several officers and people with guns.
Another neighbor witnessed the shooting as it took place.
"I stood out the corner and watched them, and they just started shooting out from behind the big green truck.
That same neighbor described feeling unsafe during what he calls, "a barrage of bullets."
"And you got other people staying in that building, you got people staying in the back, and you got people stay upstairs," said the neighbor. "So they wasn't concerned about nobody else life."
Neighbors say Meza had two Pitbulls for protection. One dog was killed at the scene. The other dog was injured and is now being cared for by Beaumont Animal Care.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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