vanessa murphy of our las vegas affiliate klas reports. >> my mom was protecting me this night, you know. she was doing what every mother would do, protect her babies. >> reporter: crystal myer's mother tammy was teaching crystal how to drive on february 12th when things took for the worse. she was driving home blocks from the family's house a driver sped up from behind, cut them off. crystal reached over and honked the horn. the other driver got out of his car to yell. tammy drove home but didn't give up. >> unfortunately i can't ask tammy what was in her midnight at the time of her actions. >> reporter: the lieutenant said tammy told crystal to get her 22-year-old brother. he was armed with a gun. they searched for him, followed him, returned home, the driver showed up and shot tammy. the son shot back. he took off. >> i did what i had to do to protect my family. everyone can think what they had to think. i did it for a reason. i would do it for anyone i love. >> tammy died two days later. at this vigil tuesday night -- >> tammy, tammy. >> reporter: the family gave their side of the st