A 63-year-old retired schoolteacher was found shot to death inside her car in the parking lot of a Glen Burnie shopping center Friday morning, Anne Arundel County police said.
Police were called around 11 a.m. Friday to a parking lot in the 7300 block of Ritchie Highway, where they found Myra Elizabeth Cason of Glen Burnie inside her Suzuki Sidekick with a gunshot wound to the chest.
Cason was last seen leaving Maryland Primary Care Physicians around 7:50 a.m. She was discovered later in the parking lot in front of a Pep Boys and a Gavigan's furniture store, police said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene and was taken to the medical examiner's office in Baltimore.
Police said the motive appeared to be robbery. Homicide Detective Michele Mangold said police believe the killer was in the car with Cason and forced her to drive to the parking lot around 8:30 a.m. Mangold said police believe Cason had been shot by 8:50 a.m., when a witness saw shattered glass in the parking lot near the Sidekick.
Mangold said it is unclear where Cason was between leaving the doctor's office and arriving at the parking lot.
"We need the public to come forward to let us know if you saw her," Mangold said Saturday evening at the crime scene. She said Cason had no criminal record and belonged to a sorority that did charity work.
Neighbor Joyce Edwards said Cason was a member of Delta Sigma Theta and would help the sorority throw fundraisers to raise money for college scholarships. Edwards, 63, said Cason was planning another event in February.
"She was a very good person," she said, describing Cason as "outgoing, bubbly."
Edwards said they met in first grade in Queenstown on the Eastern Shore and later reunited after she moved next door to Cason.
"We would look out for each other," she said."If I didn't see her car move for a few days, I'd check on her and she'd do the same for me."
Edwards said Cason had a son and several siblings.
"We are going to miss her so much," she said.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Mangold at 410-222-3458 or the Police Communications Section at 410-222-8610.
