SAN ANTONIO – Surveillance cameras were recording the parking lot where Lorena Smith sat in her car talking to a man she had recently met. While you can see her car, an SUV, a flash and the SUV speeding off, none of that has been enough to help San Antonio police figure out who killed her.
"Nobody has said a word in four years. It's like the shooter just did what he did and left, but I think the worst part is for the children that were left behind and they don't have any answers. They're just laying in wait wondering why this guy did this to their mother," said SAPD Detective Kim Bower.
Smith, 46, was parked at U.S. 281 and Bitters May 28, 2011. There wasn't much traffic around 3:30 in the morning. Smith and her friend were basically alone in the parking lot until a red Toyota Rav4 pulled up.
"The driver gets out and he comes over to the driver door of our victim and then an occupant also gets out of the red SUV," Bower said. "The driver of the red SUV starts pounding on the victim's door and at one point shoots one shot into the driver's side, hitting the victim."
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Fearing he'd be shot next, Smith's passenger ran to a place he felt safe and called 9-1-1. With the suspects speeding off, two witnesses who heard the gunshot came to see what happened.
"One of them was brave enough to get around the passenger side. He gets into the vehicle and he starts trying to help the victim as much as he can. Until police arrived, he actually stayed with her and then EMS took over. She was alive until she got to the hospital and then she died a little later," Bower said.
The surveillance video is about one minute long. It is grainy and hard to see details, including the license plate of the getaway car. Police said the gunman said something to Smith, but aren't sure what he said.
"It's hard to tell what the motive is because she was with someone. It wasn't like she was a great target because she was alone in her vehicle. She wasn't. She was with somebody else. The motive doesn't appear to be a robbery, but we really can't tell what it is right now," Bower said.
A few months after the crime, a $5,000 reward was offered for information on the case. That didn't generate new leads.
Bower said anyone who knows the suspects may have noticed a few things out of character for them.
"They could have sold the red SUV, they might have sold or pawned a silver gun, they could have been bragging to their friends about shooting somebody, they might even have left the area for a while - maybe went to visit a relative or stay out of state until they felt it was safe and now they're already back," Bower said.
Anyone with information on the crime can call Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP.
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