Auriel Briana Callaway, 24, was shot and killed in Athens, Georgia, on the evening of July 22, 2019. She was four months pregnant and died after a stray 9mm bullet struck her while she was trying to get her three-year-old son Mason to safety during a brawl among several young women at the Clarke Garden apartments. Bystanders performed CPR until emergency responders arrived just after 9:30 p.m., but Callaway succumbed to wounds that pierced her lungs and heart; her unborn child also did not survive.

Investigators recovered more than 80 shell casings at the scene. Witnesses later identified 27-year-old Kiresa Shanice Cooper as the shooter; Cooper was arrested two days afterward in Cobb County. Ballistics testing reportedly matched the bullet recovered from Callaway to a gun belonging to Cooper, and messages found on Cooper’s phone were described as suggesting awareness of potential arrest. Cooper denied intending to shoot Callaway, saying she fired into the air to break up the fight.

Callaway was described by her mother as a dedicated, hardworking young woman attending Athens Technical College while working full time and raising her son.