Oak Cliff grandmother pistol-whipped during attempted armed robbery

DALLAS - An Oak Cliff grandmother is home recovering after she was pistol-whipped by two men trying to rob her as she got out of her car early Monday.

Police say they have one person of interest and possibly another suspect in at least three early morning robberies — possibly more.

Martha Morato, 62, was released from the hospital Monday afternoon. Her face was swollen and bruised where the butt of a gun struck her twice. Her ear was stitched back together.

The retired grandmother was up early, about 5:30 a.m. Monday, delivering breakfast tacos to nearby relatives in the area of Michigan and Illinois avenues when a black double cab pickup truck got her attention.

She went on her way thinking the truck was gone, but when she got to her next stop and got out of the car, the truck blocked her in.

“One gets out with a rifle and he was begging for money and he was saying dinero, dinero, dinero,” Morato said. “The scariest thing that scares me so much is I thought that they were going to kill me. Because they had the gun pointed at me. And when I told him I didn’t have money, he hit me twice on my face. And he moved in front of my car and I thought he was going to shoot me. I really thought I was going to die.”

She says she thinks she was targeted because she is a woman who was driving alone and she’s worried whoever did this to her might shoot and kill their next victim.

Morato says the two men appeared to her to be 20-30 years old.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dallas police.