‘We lost two at one time’: Family mourns sisters killed in Texas A&M-Commerce shooting

GARLAND — Abbaney and Deja Matts were inseparable.

“They were always together. You see one, you’re gonna see the other one,” said their father, Timonthy Matts.

Abbaney Matts, 20, and Deja Matts, 19, were found fatally shot Monday at a residence hall at Texas A&M University-Commerce, about 60 miles northeast of the family’s home in Garland. Abbaney Matts’ 2-year-old son was also wounded but is recovering with his family.

Abbaney Matts’ ex-boyfriend, 21-year-old Jacques Dshawn Smith, was arrested Tuesday and faces a capital murder charge in the sisters’ deaths.

Only a week before the shooting, he had attacked Abbaney Matts, breaking a lamp over her head, beating her with a frying pan and threatening to kill her, according to police documents.

Smith, who also has been accused of killing a man in Denton in late December. remains jailed in Hunt County.

‘We lost two at one time’

Timonthy Matts said his wife called him at work Monday as news spread about the shooting.

“Off the top, we already knew, because I’m like, I don’t think anyone else has a 2-year-old boy down there besides my daughter,” Timonthy Matts said. “I just started crying because I already knew. Two were dead, and one was injured. I was like, ‘That’s my daughters.’ ”

Abbaney Matts had been visiting her sister Deja the night before they were killed, he said.

Deja Matts had come home over the weekend for their brother’s birthday party, and Abbaney drove her back to the dorm Sunday night with her son. It was late, so she decided to stay the night and drive home Monday morning.

“We don’t even know really how to describe how we’re feeling right now because we lost two at one time,” Timonthy Matts said. “Everybody is glad … [Smith] got caught, but at the same time, the pain is there. … We have our moments — cry, dry up, cry again, dry up. It’s just off and on.”

Timonthy Matts said that Smith had been dating Abbaney Matts for less than a year and that he wasn’t her son’s father. He said Smith had been to their house many times and didn’t seem like a violent person.

“I couldn’t tell he was that type of person, because he never showed that,” Timonthy Matts said. “It was always just quiet on the phone, just smiling and talking.”

‘They were like my sisters’

Abbaney and Deja Matts were best friends, said their friend Dymetria Washington, who became close with the sisters after they met at Naaman Forest High School in Garland.

“They were like my sisters,” said Washington, 19.

The three sat together at lunch in high school, went to the mall together, attended parties together — “it was just the best times,” she said.

After they all graduated, they stayed close, she said. Washington was excited for Deja when she decided to attend A&M-Commerce and stayed in touch, she said. After a shooting near Greenville at a homecoming party for A&M-Commerce in October, she called Deja right away.

Then, on Monday, Washington checked in again.

“I texted her, ‘Hey, y’all OK?’ ” she said. “And I didn’t get a response.”

Since she learned of the sisters’ deaths, Washington “just shut down,” she said. She has had trouble eating, and she has mostly been alone in her room, trying not to think about what happened, she said.

“It’s really heartbreaking. It really is,” she said. “It’s kind of messed up in the head, because how would somebody do that?”

A family trying to heal

Eventually, Timonthy Matts will explain to his 3-year-old daughter and Abbaney’s 2-year-old son what happened to the sisters. But the family isn’t ready to tell them yet, he said.

The 2-year-old was wounded during the shooting Monday. He’s now at home with a medical boot on his left leg, where his grandfather said a bullet cut straight through. Despite what he has been through, the boy is in good spirits, Timonthy Matts said.

“He’s back to normal. He’s playing like nothing happened,” Timonthy Matts said, adding that the child has asked for his mother a few times.

“They don’t understand, but they’re going to have to know,” he said. “Can’t lie to them.”

Deja Matts, who was studying public health, had dreams of becoming a nurse. She worked on campus at Texas A&M-Commerce and was a cheerleader in high school. Her sister was interested in dental work, like their mother.

“I just want people to know they were fun,” Timonthy Matts said. “They were in the church, trying to learn something and do something good for themselves, raise her kid, and tragedies like this happen.”

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up in memory of the Matts sisters.

Resources for domestic violence survivors

To find emergency shelter or talk with a professional as a victim or as a concerned friend or family member, contact:

The Family Place | 24-Hour Crisis Hotline: 214-941-1991

Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support: 214-946-4357

Brighter Tomorrows: 972-262-8383

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233

Additional domestic violence resources around Dallas County can be found here. Tarrant County resources can be found here.