Lionell Rodriguez had been out of prison only three weeks, paroled after serving less than five months of a seven-year term for burglary and cocaine possession, when he and a cousin decided to act out some crime fantasies they'd seen in movies.When their plan to rob a service station was foiled because too many people were around, they drove around Houston, eventually pulling up at a stoplight next to a dark-colored car driven by Tracy Gee. The 22-year-old assistant manager of a tennis pro shop was returning from work and just a few blocks from home where she lived with her parents.
With their own car running low on gasoline, Rodriguez, then 19, decided he wanted her car.
His cousin, James Gonzales, leaned back in the driver's seat so Rodriguez could get a clear shot with a .30-caliber M-1 carbine he'd stolen from his stepfather. The single shot through the passenger window of Gee's Honda exploded her head.
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