Grandmother shot 9 times inside her home recounts the attack, credits faith for survival
By Marvin Hurst
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FORT WORTH, Texas (KTVT) — Five months after being shot nine times inside her Fort Worth home, 72-year-old Venora Landers stood before a congregation at Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, leaning on a podium and giving glory to God for her recovery.
“And if I was going to give a subject, my subject would be ‘The victim survives.’ Amen. Hallelujah. Glory to your name, God!” Landers said.
Landers was shot at her Shasta Trail home on May 16. Her account was first shared by her nephew, Reverend Roderick Smith, a week after the attack. At the time, her family was too fearful to reveal her name or image.
“Because people get shot one time and don’t survive,” Landers said. “And I got shot nine times.”
The mother of four and grandmother of six decided to publicly share her story even as Fort Worth police continue to search for the gunmen.
Landers said she had told a friend not to come over that night to help inflate balloons for a release planned the next morning. A widow since 2018, she had lived in her home for 18 years, and one of her grandsons had recently moved in with her.
She said it was after 2 a.m. when she suddenly heard gunfire.
“And all of a sudden, I just heard boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” Landers said.
The former Fort Worth ISD bus driver said she realized she had been shot but didn’t initially feel pain.
“I wasn’t in pain because I didn’t even feel it,” she said. “I mean, if I didn’t look down and see that I was shot, I wouldn’t have knew I was shot.”
Landers said her grandson panicked but managed to call 911. She also contacted a neighbor who is a firefighter. She recalled seeing a bullet lodged in her leg.
“It (the wounds) started here. Like right up here on my thigh. And then on down, even to my foot,” she said. “And when the bullet that hit my thigh, my thigh just swole like this. And it got so big that it kind of went to the other side. And I couldn’t move.”
Despite her injuries, Landers said she was alert enough to speak with paramedics and police detectives before losing consciousness. Her next memory was waking up in the ICU.
Her daughter, Tina Menefee, recalled racing to the hospital that night.
“She did have a total of five surgeries and probably going to have to have another,” Menefee said. “So her journey is not over yet.”
Landers, one of twelve siblings, was surrounded by nearly all her surviving brothers and sisters at Saturday’s appreciation service. During her hospital stay, they visited her regularly. She remembered waking up with a tube in her throat and mouthing to her daughter to pray — unaware of her condition.
“And I know nobody would want to go through that journey,” Menefee said. “But I think that she even appreciates what she’s had to endure, because this made her stronger, made her a stronger person even on today.”
Landers has since moved out of the home she cherished for nearly two decades due to medical and security concerns. Fort Worth police said they are pursuing a lead in the case.
Going back, she said, brings back too many memories. One moment that stands out occurred two months before the shooting. In her faith, Landers is considered a prophetess: someone who hears from God.
She said that night in March, she heard her name and the phrase “Legion of angels,” which she took as a message of divine protection.
“So when you hear legions of angels, what does that mean to you? Protection,” she said.
By May, she had survived a barrage of bullets from what she described as an AK-style weapon. She doesn’t know who targeted her or why, but she believes her survival is proof of divine purpose.
“What did he say? He won’t put no more on us than we can bear,” she said. “So hey, I trust him. I trust him with my life.”
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