Mary Angelle heard the dead-of-night gunfire, and the screams for the shooting to stop. A street over, a young mother described as an innocent bystander lay dead — one of two fatalities from three separate shootings recorded in Port Arthur over a 48-hour span this weekend.
The slayings raise the number of homicides in Port Arthur to eight thus far in 2019. That compares to 14 across the city last year.
The incidents underscore how routine gun violence has become in parts of town, including Angelle’s modest neighborhood between downtown and the sprawling Motiva refinery. Her home has been shot at twice this month alone. The front of the house is riddled with more than a dozen fresh bullet holes, and others that had been repaired and repainted.
