By all accounts Jamea Jonae Harris was a star in her own right. Just 23, she already seemed to have it all: brains, beauty, happiness, humility and a five-year-old son who was her entire world. She booked off a weekend in January to spend with her cousin, a student at the University of Alabama. With her boyfriend, Harris made the hour drive from her Birmingham home to the college town of Tuscaloosa. After a Saturday night spent clubbing with friends, Harris headed for home in a black Jeep with her boyfriend and cousin, stopping for a late-night bite at a greasy spoon in the shadow of Bama’s football stadium. It was just their bad luck.

According to Harris’s mother and cousin, the trio were waiting on their food when two men approached, desperate for Harris’s attention. The more they refused to take no for an answer, the more the tension rose. Attuned to the vibe shift, Harris’s boyfriend proposed they just forget the food and leave. But Harris and her companions were reportedly blocked in by two cars and fired upon by one of the men who had approached her. Harris’s boyfriend shot back with his own firearm and hit the gunman twice, then tried to steer the group to safety.