On the evening of November 12, 2016, a celebration that began with a family wedding in Kansas City ended in a deadly ambush. Maryanna Pennington, 25 and a mother of three, was killed when a man opened fire on the disabled vehicle she and three other women were in after their car broke down near 21st and Cleveland because of a broken axle. The group had been stranded with the ignition still running when the shooter approached and fired more than 30 rounds from two weapons, including a handgun and an AK-47 style rifle.

The shooting followed an earlier altercation: a witness told police Pennington had been in a fight hours earlier with the shooter’s girlfriend, who then asked her boyfriend to confront Pennington. Pennington suffered ten gunshot wounds and died at the scene; the three other women were critically injured and one sister was left paralyzed. Shell casings were found in a full circle around the car.

The shooter was identified as Deandre Jackson of Raytown. In June 2019 Jackson pleaded guilty to multiple felonies including second-degree murder, and in August 2019 he was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Did anyone who knew Maryanna or who was in that area that night notice anything unusual before the shooting?