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Subscribe to RSSGARLAND, Texas -- High school students have raised $10,000 for the family of a convenience store clerk, known as "Grandma" to many in the Garland community, who was set on fire during a robbery attempt.
Nancy Harris, 76, died Friday night, nearly a week after the attack at the Fina gas station where she worked in South Garland.
On Saturday, students from South Garland High School returned to the place of the attack to hold a car wash and raise money for her family.
Read the original report at NBCDFW.com
"I was just devastated. Its kind of outlandish that someone would go out of their way to do this," said Dylan Stooksberry, president of the school's student council. "To have that happen to someone who you know, to a face that you know, to a friend, it's devastating."
"It hurts deep down and honestly if someone is going to go out of their way to do something bad like that, I am going to go out of my way to do something nice," said Stooksberry.
The Fina gas station is just a block from their school. Many students, like DJ Valderrama, personally knew Harris.
"I came in the gas station and she showed me so much kindness by giving me a free drink," Valderrama said. "Whenever somebody shows you that kind of kindness if affects your life, really."
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Despite the tragedy on Sunday at the Fina gas station, many students told NBC 5 that the incident has brought the community closer together.
Many hoped this fundraiser will help honor Harris.
"I know Ms. Harris is looking down on us right now, I know she is happy," said Valderrama.
Matthew Johnson is charged with attempted capital murder in connection with this case. Those charges could be upgraded because Ms. Harris has died.
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Leave a Comment:
Bless you children! That is an awesome response to a horrible tragedy.
What a sad story, and yet, the beautiful youth that can do something for someone else in need.
RIP Nancy Harris, and thank you to mall the kids involved.
Good for them.
This is why I have the utmost faith in the upcoming generation. There are so many kind and caring kids like these.
Kids today can be great, lets all pray they don't grow up to be idiot adults. Very nice kids remember to be kind to all living things.
it's finally good to see the kids doing something other than being the ones who commit these acts,
the piece of crap that did this to the old lady should be fried themselves and they could see what it's like to suffer the pain she did.
Your first statement is trollish you do realize that right? But other then that I agree with you. Man needs to be thrown in a ditch full of hungry ass scorpions.
eat my sweaty shorts, what you consider to be trollish isn't what others would say,
the media needs to do a study on people who troll the Internet looking for people to criticize for every post others make.
what is so trollish about posting something about it being refreshing to see the kids doing something other than committing crimes such as this?
you need to come out from under your rock more often and see that there are more situations where the kids are committing crimes in the inner cities than doing any good.
There are more adult criminals in the states then kid criminals dip@!$%#. And I know kids are committing crimes these days. But it was trollish because (and if I want to get technical I can say it's insensitive) Because a lady died and you want to alleviate the fact that kids commit crimes like this. Feel sorry for the dead person and all her friends, feel hatred for the murder. That's all that's needed on something like this. I don't live under a rock. I just stick with the story. You want to be stupid why don't you go someplace else. Get it?
GOD BLESS the students, family and friends....
The crimes most likely will be upgraded to capital murder and this scum bag will deserve it. Who in the hell sets an old lady on fire? For Pete's sake, I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy.
And for what? A few stinking bucks? Holy @!$%#, I mean, the odds are that he could have made as much money as was in the place working for a few days at minimum wage.
Its all a ridiculous stupid waste of life and far too much suffering for what amounts to NOTHING over a lifetime.
Hello lock, bye-bye key.
There is no lock and key for this type crime in Texas.
It goes like this.
"Hello ass hole, you die tomorrow".
As it should be.
Viewer - sadly, it will probably take a few decades and wasted millions for justice to be served.
Unless of course they lock him up in the GP and the situation just takes care of itself in some magical way.
No, Texas is not like other states.
You get one appeal, and if it fails you are history.
Oklahoma is the same way.
Timothy McViegh was dead in less than two years from his arrest.
"Timothy McViegh was dead in less than two years from his arrest"
Do you just make this stuff up or are you confused?
Mcveigh was indicted in 1995 and died in 2001, look it up before you spew nonsense
I stand corrected.
I flew over the bombing site in 2005.
However, it only took six years to kill the jerk.
More time if you count the time spent before indictment.
Still, it did not cost millions to keep him alive that long.
That was the issue.
I stand corrected.
I didn't mean to get rude, it's just that so many people post things as fact without doing any research first. It's not so much you and I that I am concerned about as it is those who read the comments, take it as gospel then spread the misinformation. it takes very little time in this digital age for a misstatment to become "fact".
You are right though, he did not spend as much time behind bars as many do.
I believe that in cases such as this where the crime is unthinkable and there is no doubt that he did it then justice should be swift. I am from the left side of the aisle, far left, but I do believe in capital punishment for crimes like setting an old woman on fire.
Bodydouble and Viewer, agree with you both, shame McViegh took six years to finish, must seem like two years compared to other death row cases.
The man who killed "grandma" should be fed into a wood chipper in six months.
McVeigh was prosecuted by the feds,Oklahoma had nothing to do with it.
Still it was pretty fast for a capital offense.
I was under the impression that the reason the McVeigh execution happened so quickly was because he didn't appeal the sentence so he could die a martyr.
it this nice to know that there are still young people out there who will do something nice for someone else. As far as the attacker, this country needs to bring back the death penalty and get rid of people who have no respect for human life. If someone thought they would face the same type of death they inflicted on someone else, maybe some of these crimes would stop. An eye for an eye........
texas has the death penalty, and i hope they use it
There are good people in this world.
These children I hope will grow up to be great leaders not only in their community, but in these United States.
God bless these children please.
And my sincere condolences to the family.
Mrs. Harris,. rest in peace.
You lived in Texas, justice will be swift.
God bless each and every student who is involved in this fund raiser. You have definitely earned a star for your crown when you get to Heaven. As an added bonus? Nancy Harris will be there to greet you personally when you arrive.
God rest her soul. God bless the youth that were impacted by her apparent compassion and kindness. My opinion; if she was working at that store because she owned it, or just enjoyed working there, that is great. If she was working there because she needed to supplement her social security; if she received it, that would anger me. If she was working to be up and about and see youth because it helped her stay viable and reasonably healthy, great. If she was working that job so that she could afford medications, food other than cat food; and to keep a roof over her head, I am sad. I hope that these same wonderful youth who helped her family; think about public service. No super PACS needed here. Ethics, morals, self esteem and compassion. God bless her. Wow until us; if she worked because she had to.
She actually loved working at the store and she just wanted something to do after retiring from a previous job. No she didn't own it or nor was a manager, just someone who wanted something to do a few hours during the week when she wasn't with her family.
What a terrible tragedy. An inhuman act. My thoughts are with the woman's family.
Now let's see if the good people of Texas will see this through and swiftly - swiftly - execute this waste of carbon and rid the world of such filth.
Let's hope they don't squander millions of dollars and decades on his incarceration and legal representation. His life is not worth it, and is forfeit.
What a wonderful thing these kids did. Might be hope for the upcoming generation yet. Instead of the needle, they should just douse Johnson with some gasoline and set him on fire in his cell on death row.
I was shocked to discover that her murderer is black. I bet you were, too.
troll
Why is she a troll? I was equally as shocked to find out that the scumbag whom set fire to a 76 year old woman for a few bucks was black. Oh! For heavens sake! They've never done anything like that before!
SARCASM
How sad that they only thing you seem to take away from this horrible crime is the color of the perpetrator's skin. I'm guessing that you believe a white person has never burned a black person, or dragged them behind a car, or hung them or tortured them? Nope, the only problem here is that Matthew Johnson is black.
How sad you are!
@ Tiredofhypocrites,
Probably because the first thing that would happen if it had been a black woman and white man is you would have every black person in the nation up in arms yelling " HATE CRIME ". You would have Sharpton, Jackson, Quanell X and the Black Panthers marching in Garland screaming for blood and retribution. Where are they now? Why are they not condemning an obvious hate crime perpetuated against a 76 year old white woman whom never did anything to the loser whom killed her? The hypocrisy of the black community is truly astounding. The ratio of black on white crime compared to white on black crime is amazingly disproportionate. How often do you hear of black on white crime? Almost on a daily basis. How often do you hear of white on black crime? Rarely. And when it does happen, it is usually self defense in nature. But you don't want to hear that do you? By the crime statistics, blacks make up more of the murder, rape, robbery, drug and theft rates than all the other races in the U.S. put together. Don't believe me? Look it up. Blacks comprise 12.8 % of the U.S. population, but account for 40% of all crimes committed. The black on white hate crime convictions are skewed in favor of blacks because to accuse a black person of an obvious hate crime would not be politically correct, now would it? Hypocrisy at it's finest.
Where's Jesse Jackson? Where's Al Sharpton?
WAR, you're right. Let's just condemn all black people. That will solve all our problems, won't it?
A significant majority of hate crimes are committed by white males on blacks and homosexuals.
A significant majority of pedophiles are white.
Almost 100% of serial killers are white.
Perhaps, if you tried looking beyond skin color, and instead, looked at socioeconomic factors, you might discover something very interesting.
Such a tragic story but such wonderful kids! God bless them. RIP, Nancy Harris, you touched the lives of those children and they are trying to touch back.
Beautiful comment Abby.
That should get a limb for an act of random "vineness".
I agree wholeheartedly with you Abby. It is refreshing to hear of a school community pulling together for such a worthy cause. R.I.P. Nancy.
Good to hear that they got the guy -- what kind of sick f**k does that?!
And good for those kids.
Prayers to the family. Great kids for rasing that money for the family - a great act of kindness and love.
Nice Nice! I wish nothing but the best where kid's are involved. The anger with these post here, it's sad because even compassion we could agree on, but I wonder now?
We should not allow our politicians and lobbiest decide our fate, we need to take charge, frankly we are the resources!
Obama/Biden/Pelosi/-2012 Moving America FORWARD!!
Matthew Johnson, scum bag. Talking about torture. This guy should get the death sentence.
A lot of people do not believe in the the death penalty. But, this right here is a good example of why we need it. This person, ( and I use that term loosely ), whom murdered a 76 year old woman in one of the most terrible and painful ways to die, has forfeited his right to live. There are some people whom just need to to die. The world would be a much better place without them. The scumbag who did this is a prime example.
Bravo!
The sad things, there are so many Liberals driven by delusions of moral superiority opposing common sense and the needs of society at every turn.
I think people who are against the death penalty should collectively be held accountable for the costs to incarcerate the wastes of carbon that they seem to value so highly.
Their tune would change in short order. I know I don't want to pay to keep them alive. I'd rather see it go to schools.
Some 'men' are evil. Why can't some 'people' admit this and face reality?
I want to Know why this is not a hate crime ?
White people are not given the same Right's as other groups?
It's not a hate crime because a few hundred years ago, some dead white men did some things that some people still hold against living white people that had nothing to do with it.
It is with a sort of sad amusement I make this observation...
So many people on the Vine make vitriolic statements about Texas and ridicule its proud history and uncertain future, its traditions and its people.
But when the news media has a story about something as evil and disturbing to all of us as the senseless death of this Grandmother, or the death of innocent children at the hands of human monsters, Newsvine is filled with comments to "send them to Texas, they know how to take care of them," or "too bad it didn't happen in Texas."
Guess we have a need for the Lone Star at times.
Some people need Texas to use as an all-purpose trailer park, it gives them a feeling of superiority.
I live in Nevada but given a choice between the 2 left coasts and Texas I'll take Texas.
Rest in Peace Mrs. Harris. My very sincere condolences to your family and friends.
I applaud the actions of the students who were touched by this kind woman. Hopefully, they will keep the lessons they learned from her throughout their lives.
May the punishment of her attacker be swift yet brutal and painful. May he know in death the pain he inflicted on another.
Working in a convienace store is one of the most dangerous occupations in the country.
I wonder why there are only 50 comments on this tragic story? Maybe it's because the mainstream news outlets have not pursued this HATE CRIME like they did the Trayvon Martin case? Does anyone besides me see a double standard here?