© ABC13HPD investigators at the scene of the murder of Gelareh Bagherzadeh, found in her car in the Memorial area early Monday morning.
Gelareh Bagherzadeh, 30, was shot to death around midnight Monday in the parking area behind the townhome at 894 Augusta Drive where she lived with her parents. She was a student in molecular genetics technology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and was an organizer of Sabz-Houston, an organization calling for political change in Iran.
Born in Mashhad, Iran, she was prominent for her activism in demanding a regime change in Iran in 2010 and rights for women in her native country. Websites devoted to that cause ran accounts of her death Monday and Tuesday.
The mystery of Bagherzadeh's death deepened Tuesday, when Houston police revealed they first responded to a shots-fired call in that block about 11:45 p.m. Sunday but found no evidence of a shooting and left the scene.
About 45 minutes later, they received another call that a shooting had just occurred at Bagherzadeh's address. Officers arrived to find her slumped behind the wheel of her Nissan Altima, the car crashed into a garage door, its wheels still spinning. Authorities told ABC-13 that the tires had been worn down to their steel tread. It appeared she had been shot through the passenger-side window. Parademics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Investigators have recovered surveillance tapes from cameras at the townhome complex and are hoping they provide clues.
HPD Homicide Division Sgt. J. C. Padilla and Senior Police Officer R. L. Bolton reported homicide investigators were told by witnesses that several gunshots were heard, followed by a a crash and tires squealing.
The victim's former boyfriend rushed to the scene and told officers he had been on the phone with her, apparently when the shooting occurred. He believed she had been in an accident after hearing her scream and the same noises reported by neighbors that suggested a crash.
Another mystery was raised by neighbors, who wondered why the victim, who was known routinely to park on the street in front of her parents' residence, was driving in the dead-end row of parking garages behind the townhomes.
Police say there are no suspects and no known motives in the shooting. Valuable items, such as Bagherzadeh's purse and cell phone, were still in her car.
Anyone with information in this case is urged to contact the HPD Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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