Barbara Luke, 71, was shot and killed while driving on Delray Drive in Columbus, Georgia, at about 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 16, 2022. The gunshot wound caused her to crash into a tree; officers who arrived attempted life-saving measures but she was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting was Columbus’s first homicide of 2022.

Police said residents had reported hearing gunfire in the neighborhood in the two days before Luke’s death; the department was investigating those reports but had not determined whether they were related. At the time of the initial reports in January 2022 investigators were still searching for the person or persons responsible and no suspects had been publicly identified.

Luke was born in Preston, Mississippi, grew up in a military family, graduated from Carver High School in Columbus in 1968, worked for many years in Michigan and retired from General Motors Powertrain Assembly before returning to Georgia. If anyone has information about the shooting or the neighborhood gunfire, please come forward.