Mom Shot After Grounding Daughter

A 12-year-old girl upset about being grounded by her mother fatally shot the woman in the face while she slept, police said.

Elvira Marion Walton, 48, was discovered in her bed early Sunday by her son. The 10-year-old boy called police around 1 a.m.

"Apparently the motive is because the daughter was upset that the mother disciplined her," police Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick said in Monday editions of The Dallas Morning News.

The girl has been charged with murder. Police found a gun in the house, but investigators did not immediately say whether it was the weapon used in the shooting or who owned it.

An older daughter, Thanica Derrick, said her mother had been having trouble with the girl. Walton had six children and lived in a converted garage used as the family home.

"She is your average 12-year-old, hormones and everything," said Derrick, 22. "There's nothing that bad to make her do that to my mama. She had been breaking out of the house and not going to school."

Derrick said she was aware her mother owned a gun.

"She kept it for protection because she was living by herself," said Derrick, who is taking care of her 10-year-old half brother. "My mom tried her best. She tried her hardest for all of us."

Walton, who has six children, moved to the United States from Germany in 1984, Derrick said. She used to rent out apartments, but recently was unemployed.

Donald Ricks, a neighbor, said he never saw any abuse on the part of the mother or anything out of the ordinary involving the family.

Investigators were trying to determine whether there was a history of domestic abuse in the family or whether Child Protective Services had ever intervened on the children's behalf.

Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman, said she could neither confirm nor deny previous involvement with the family. She said CPS would investigate if the case is referred to the agency by the Dallas police.