DEATH IN TEXAS

TX Teen Who Survived Shooting That Killed Her Girlfriend: “Cherish The People In Your Life”

Texas teen Kristene Chapa is on the mend, recovering from a horrible attack  in June that left her girlfriend, Mollie Olgin, dead with a bullet to the head.

On her Facebook page Chapa wrote “Today marks 3 months since my accident. I’ve learned life is so fragile and cherish the people you have in your life love them don’t take things for granted…”

The couple were in a park in Portland, TX, when an assailant shot them both with a large-caliber handgun. Olgin, a freshman in college, died on the scene; Chapa was discovered the next day by campers and taken to a local hospital.

Details about the attack are sparse: No suspects have been named but police, who are currently parsing through dozens of leads, released a sketch earlier this summer The perpetrator is described as a thin white man in his 20s with a scruffy beard, approximately 5’8″ and 140 pounds.

Chapa is still at a rehabilitation facility recovering from brain injuries and paralysis, but seems to have a positive outlook, commenting that she’s taking her recovery “one step at a time.”  “I still need time but I am happy,” she wrote. “I’m moving on.”

Earlier this month Chapa also posted that she had found a new love: “I know people deal with things different and I’m not gonna sit in my room and cry over what happened,” she wrote. “I was heartbroken but I’m not gonna be single for the rest of my life … she’s in my heart but I needed something else. I wanted a girl to be there for me and understand what I’m going through.”

It’s easy to cast judgments on Chapa for starting a relationship so soon after her girlfriend’s death—but who among us knows how they’d react to such a traumatic situation? (And keep in mind she’s only 18.)

Mollie Olgin’s father told reporters he’s determined to see that justice is served in his daughter’s murder. “There was no reason to take her life the way they did,” he told KIII-TV. He says he’s comforted by the thought that Mollie is “in a better place.”

While members of south Texas’ LGBT community have been vocal in condemning the murderous attack, Portland Police Chief Randy Wright says his department is not currently pursuing it as a hate crime: “There’s no evidence to suggest that this crime was committed as a bias against the girls or their lifestyle.”

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