Brittney Jakeline Gamez Farjat was 20 when she was killed on July 15, 2022, in Asheville near Aston Park Tower on French Broad Avenue. A verbal dispute between Menelik Tefari Nesanet and Donald Harrison escalated; Nesanet produced a gun and shot Harrison, and a bullet struck Gamez Farjat in the crowd. Both victims were taken to Mission Hospital with life threatening injuries; Harrison later stabilized, while Gamez Farjat died around 11 p.m. that night.

Nesanet was the subject of a three-day manhunt before being arrested by the U.S. Marshals in Charlotte and returned to Buncombe County. The case was among those referred to the Department of Justice’s Special Prosecutions Section because of a backlog at the local District Attorney’s Office. Friends described Gamez Farjat as sweet, loving, and helpful, and a memorial was placed in the apartment complex parking lot where she was shot.