TOMBALL, Texas -- Sometimes, the scars we bear don't tell half the story. Just ask Deborah Sanchez.

“My daughter's ex-boyfriend murdered her. He shot her 14 times in the head and torso, then he turned the gun on me,” said Sanchez. “I turned around and he shot me in the back.”

Three years ago, Leza Maddalone met her paternal grandmother at a gas station. The kids' father showed up with a gun.

He killed the mother and left Sanchez for dead.

Her grandchildren carry their own scars from the shooting -- not on their bodies, but in their hearts after witnessing such a horrible act.

It's a scenario that flashes onto our television screens all too often: Children left to make sense of violent crimes.

On Wednesday night, a 3-year-old girl saw her mom gunned down by her dad in the Houston area.

“Those children often regress in their developmental milestones,” said Judy Gentry of the Depelchin Children's Center. “They may start wetting the bed again, they may have night terrors. They may appear hyper-active because they are so anxious.”

A lot of therapy and family time brought the light back into the eyes of Sanchez's grandchildren.

“They know that there's a higher power than just here on Earth and that someday they're going to see their mom again. And that's what they hold onto,” said Sanchez.

They hold onto that and the love of their grandmother, who bears both the physical and the emotional scars of a senseless act.