Mom of Murdered 10-Year-Old Facing Cocaine Charges

The mother of a 10-year-old southwestern Pennsylvania girl who was fatally shot in an apparent home invasion attempt is awaiting trial on charges she sold crack cocaine to an undercover informant.
 
But police in Washington, Pa. are stopping short of saying that's why the apartment was targeted by gunfire that killed little Taniyah Thomas before dawn Monday.
 
The girl was going from her bedroom to her mother's when a shot fired through their apartment door struck Thomas in the head about 3:50 a.m.
 
Police say Thomas' mother, 36-year-old Shantye Brown, was arrested on the drug charges in January. Brown's live-in boyfriend, 26-year-old Robert Lester, also has drug-related convictions in 2011 and 2013.
 
Police have questioned the couple, but have yet to name or charge any suspects in the shooting.