DALLAS — A woman died after being shot by a security guard at a Dallas strip club, police said. The club said the woman had hit the guard with her car prior to the shooting.
Dallas Police said the shooting happened just after 5 a.m. Saturday at the XTC Cabaret Dallas club located on North Stemmons Freeway.
Police said a 26-year-old female security officer shot the victim, identified as Shalonda Anderson, 32. Anderson was taken to a local hospital where she died from her injuries.
According to police, a second security officer, a 30-year-old male, is also believed to have shot into the victim's vehicle. Police identified that guard as Sterlin Hammett. He has been arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. His bond has been set at $75,000 ($25,000 for each count).
In a statement released Sunday afternoon, the club said a woman, identified by police as Anderson, had driven her vehicle into a group of security guards. One security guard, identified by police only as a 26-year-old woman, was pinned between the car and another vehicle. The club said the guard then shot the driver "before the driver could seriously injure or kill others."
"We would like to express our deepest condolences to the families involved. Club management has reached out to the family of the individual who died and offered to pay for her funeral," said the club in a statement.
The security guard has "multiple broken bones" and is expected to undergo surgery, XTC said.
Anderson's family told WFAA they don't believe XTC's side of the story. Her family and friends stood outside the business on Sunday, calling for it to shut down.
"[Shalonda] had a good heart, everyone came to her house every day," Anderson's mother, Benita Lofton, said.
Lofton said Anderson was the mother to three children.
"She just wanted the best for her kids, that's all she talked about," Lofton said.
"For my grandbaby to come up to me and ask me, 'Granny is my mom in the sky?' That took a lot out of me," she added.
According to Anderson's family, XTC's owner offered to pay for the 32-year-old's funeral.
An online fundraising campaign was set up to help Anderson's family.
The Dallas County District Attorney's Public Integrity Unit will conduct an independent investigation, police said.
No other details about the incident were released.
City push to limit business hours for cabarets, sexually-oriented businesses
The shooting comes nearly a month after a court temporarily postponed a city ordinance that limited sexually-oriented business hours.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson released the following statement after Anderson's death, “I am sickened by the tragic violence we have seen at sexually oriented businesses in our city. This incident once again demonstrates why the Dallas City Council — in the interest of public safety — unanimously voted in favor of reasonable restrictions on the hours of operation for these businesses. Lives are at stake, and that is why it is critical for us to continue to pursue policies that can help us achieve our goal of making Dallas the safest major city in the United States.”
Dallas City Council unanimously passed an ordinance earlier this year that required such businesses to be closed from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. Data from Dallas Police alleged violent crime offenses increased between those hours, compared to a timeframe from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
A complaint was filed against the ordinance from several cabarets and an adult bookstore, stating the ordinance violated their First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
In May, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction in the sexually-oriented businesses' favor, stating that the data presented by the city was flawed and that the speech targeted by the ordinance was protected.