Local

Man accused of fatally shooting Gastonia woman

GASTONIA, N.C. — People called her "Mother Teresa."

Teresa Sanders was killed Wednesday night.  Witnesses said people started getting worked up along May Street in Gastonia and that Sanders probably came out to keep the peace.  Instead, she was shot and killed, and a 15-year-old girl was hurt, too.

The man accused of pulling the trigger, Mark Collins, was in court Thursday afternoon.  Prosecutors say they're still deciding whether to seek the death penalty.

“As of this moment, it's still an option that's on the table,” Assistant DA Debbie Gulledge said.

Travis Lowery, Sanders' son, was visibly shaken when interviewed.

"I want him dead,” he said. “He took the only thing that I had."

"(She was a) good woman. Caring.  Give anybody a place to rest. Feed anybody,” family friend Robert Hamlett said. “She's like a mother to everybody.  That name fit her.  Mother Teresa.  That's exactly what she was to everybody."

Collins is being held without bond.  He's also getting a public defender.