| UNFAIR PARK | Lynetta Washington’s daughters Myah Hill (left) and Angel Durr hold a photo of their mom near where a street racer killed her. Mike Brooks DRIVING FOR JUSTICE Lynetta Washington was killed during a street takeover. Her family is still searching For the killer. BY JACOB VAUGHN rubber right in the middle of the street, sur- rounded by crowds of spectators. The peo- ple behind the street takeovers call themselves swingers, referring to how their cars whip around when they do donuts and other stunts. The takeovers would happen near Washington’s apartment complex. It was all interesting to Washington, a 54-year- old southern Dallas resident and trained mechanic. Then she began hearing about gunfire L and injuries that would occur at the take- overs. She started to feel the events were a nuisance and put too many people in danger, which was particularly important to her be- cause she worked in healthcare, her family says. She’d previously been a nurse’s aide. She was working from home as a call agent ynetta Washington thought the street take- overs were cool at first. Drivers would block off an intersection and burn for a telemedicine company last year when she was shot and killed outside of her home. Police say Washington was struck by a stray bullet when an unknown person ran- domly fired a gun at a street takeover in her neighborhood. Washington’s family says the bullet was meant for her, retaliation for an argument between Washington and the stunt drivers moments before she was killed. No one has been arrested for shooting Washington, and her family feels DPD is dragging its feet investigating the crime, which was captured on video. “After speaking with detectives, the de- partment has not found any evidence to prove that the shot that struck Mrs. Wash- ington was intended for her,” a DPD spokes- person told the Observer. “Detectives worked vigorously to find who committed this terrible crime. The video that was ob- tained did not show who fired the shot that struck Mrs. Washington.” The department hopes anyone with in- formation will reach out. Meanwhile, Washington’s family says they’ve started doing their own work on the case, planting hidden cameras in the area and hiring lawyers and private investigators. Washington had four children. Angel Durr, 34, is the oldest. “I’ve always kind of been the closest to her since I was with her the longest,” Durr said. She would always move near where Durr was staying. “That included me going to school and stuff,” Durr said. “I was a first generation college student, so that made her really happy.” They even lived together a few times when Durr was an adult. “It was really im- portant for me that I take care of her. That’s just part of our culture,” she said, referring to her Afro-Latina roots. “It’s really impor- tant for us to take care of our parents. We just had a close relationship.” Washington was adopted in Connecticut, where she was born and raised. But her fam- ily is from Texas. Durr’s grandmother worked for a Texas company. When the company moved to Connecticut, Durr’s grandma followed. Growing up, Washington would spend summers in Texas, most times in Oak Cliff. Early in the pandemic, Washington and most of her family, including Durr and her sister in-law Kyla Mckinzie, lived in Denton. They moved from Denton to southern Dal- las in early 2021. Mckinzie lives off of Skillman and South- western Boulevard in Dallas now. “My first experience with the stunt drivers was when I moved to Dallas,” she said. “At first I thought it was cool. I’m not going to lie. When I was watching it, there was no gun- shots, there was no fighting, there was noth- ing. I thought it was cool that it was a group of kids having fun doing something that makes them happy.” People would get annoyed at the traffic the takeovers would cause, but more or less, Mckinzie thought it was innocent fun. “I just saw a bunch of kids having a good time,” she said. “I never thought it would end in something so violent, you know?” As for Washington, Durr said: “My mom loved cars, so she was actually really >> p4 33 dallasobserver.com dallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 JANUARY 20–26, 2022
