Nurse and Mother of Two Fatally Shot in Texas City, 73-Year-Old Man Charged with Murder

A Welfare Check Ends in a Murder Charge

On Thursday afternoon, Texas City police were called at about 3 p.m. for a welfare check on Mallard Drive, near Texas Avenue and Vauthier Street. What officers found when they arrived was not a routine situation. A 42-year-old woman was found dead after she was discovered with a gunshot wound to the chest. What began as a check on someone's well-being quickly became a homicide investigation.

Angela Gray was found dead in the living room with a gunshot wound to the chest, and investigators say they found 73-year-old Lee Sims with a gun concealed in his waistband. According to police, Sims was charged with Gray's death and is in custody on a murder charge with a $250,000 bond. The speed of the arrest — at the scene, effectively — suggests officers had little doubt about what had transpired inside that home.

The Victim: A Caregiver and a Mother

Angela Gray was a nurse at an assisted living facility and the mother of two, her friends and family confirmed. The painful irony is hard to ignore: a woman who spent her professional life caring for vulnerable people lost her own life in what police are treating as a homicide. She was 42 years old.

For those who knew her, Gray was not just a statistic in a crime report. She was someone who showed up every day to care for others — the elderly, the infirm, people who depended on her. The details of her relationship to Lee Sims have not been publicly disclosed, and investigators have not yet released a motive. The investigation remains active and ongoing.

Who Is Lee Sims?

Records show Sims was licensed as a security officer until last year, and he has no criminal history in Texas. That last detail is particularly striking. A man in his seventies, with no prior run-ins with the law, now faces one of the most serious charges the state can bring. He has been booked into the Texas City Jail.

He is being held in the Galveston County Jail on a $250,000 bond. Given the severity of a murder charge and the circumstances of the arrest — with a weapon still on his person — that bond figure reflects the seriousness with which authorities are treating this case. The absence of a prior record does not soften the weight of the charges he now faces.

What Comes Next

Texas City police have made clear they are not finished building their case. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Detective Charles at 409-643-5763 or Detective Stinson at 409-643-5200, and anonymous tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 409-763-TIPS (8477). Investigators are appealing to the community, which suggests they may be seeking additional context — witnesses, prior incidents, or background on the relationship between the two individuals.

This case raises questions that go beyond the immediate facts. A woman who cared for others is gone. A 73-year-old man with no criminal past now faces a murder charge. As the investigation unfolds, the community — and Gray's two children — will be waiting for answers about what led to that welfare check on Mallard Drive, and why it ended the way it did.