Woman charged with shooting Leander city employee in park bathroom

Leander city employee shot on job

Leander police arrested a woman for allegedly shooting a city employee in a park bathroom.

LEANDER, Texas - A woman is behind bars after Leander police say she shot a city employee in a park bathroom Friday morning.

32-year-old Hannah Morgan-Barber has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

On July 12, at around 6:45 a.m., Leander police responded to a report of a woman with a gunshot wound at the Benbrook Ranch Skate Park in the 1100 block of Halsey Drive.

Officers arrived and found the 31-year-old victim, a City of Leander employee who had been on duty cleaning the area at the time of the shooting. Officers were told that the employee had entered the park bathroom near the disc golf course and encountered Morgan-Barber, police say.

Hannah Morgan-Barber (Leander Police Department)

During the encounter, Morgan-Barber allegedly shot the city employee once with a pistol, then fled the area.

MORE CRIME COVERAGE

She was later found a short time later in the 14000 block of Hero Way and was taken into custody without incident. A pistol was found in her possession and seized, police say.

The employee was taken to the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.

This is an isolated incident and there is no ongoing threat to the public. Park areas are open and safe to visit, police say.

"Random things happen at random times regardless of your employment or where you are, it just happened this time to be a city employee," Lt. Mike Mohler with Leander Police said.

This is the same park where a teen on her bike was sexually assaulted in May. That suspect hasn't been caught.

"We are currently still investigating that other particular case, following up on leads on that one, but the two are definitely not related whatsoever, but it is the same area," Mohler said. "There is no threat to the public from either one of those, it is still a safe park to go to, people have been going there for several years without any major incidents."

As for general safety wherever you are, "if you're in a public area like a park, try not to fixate on your phone all the time or be misdirected by other things. Keep aware of your surroundings and if you see something suspicious, let us know," Mohler said.