FERGUSON, Missouri — She had just signed a new lease and wanted to celebrate with her kids the only way a mom knows how — a late-night slushie run.
Shakeela Martin, 35, never made it back to the car.
Martin was shot and killed outside a BP gas station just before midnight on June 30. Her two youngest children, ages 6 and 9, watched it happen from just feet away.
A Random Act of Violence
Police say Martin had nothing to do with what unfolded that night.
She was walking out of the store when a vehicle pulled up and occupants opened fire. One of the suspects had been involved in an argument before the shooting. Martin was simply in the wrong place.
Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. A man also struck by gunfire was hospitalized and later released.
“She wasn’t involved in any argument. She wasn’t out in the streets. She’s just a good, loving mother,” Ferguson Police Chief Troy Doyle said.
Three Men Arrested and Charged
Investigators tracked a Chevrolet Malibu seen on surveillance video near the scene.
Marcus Evans, 21, and Kyren Farmer, 21, along with 19-year-old Jontez Young, were identified as suspects. Bullets matching the shell casings found at the scene were recovered at Young’s home. Evans admitted to being inside the vehicle. Farmer admitted to driving.
All three now face charges of second-degree murder, assault, and discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle. Each is being held on at least $2 million bond.
Five Children Left Without Their Mother
Martin was a mother of five. The night she was killed, she was one day away from moving her family into their new home.
“What should have been a joyful family moment became an unimaginable tragedy,” her family wrote.
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