Carl England was 47 when he was shot and killed after going to a north Tulsa housing complex to help his daughter on the night of April 5, 2010. He ran a small tree-cutting business and was a single father who kept close watch on his children. Earlier that day his daughter and her boyfriend, Damien Neal, had clashed with a man identified as Pernell Demond Jefferson, who had been banned from the Comanche Park property and was later accused of trying to force his way into the apartment.

When England and Neal went back to the complex to confront Jefferson, witnesses say a brief struggle followed: England struck Jefferson with a stick, Jefferson fell to the ground, then drew a handgun and fired, striking England in the chest. England was taken to a Tulsa hospital and pronounced dead about an hour later.

Jefferson was located after seeking treatment the next day and was arrested; prosecutors later declined to file homicide charges, treating the shooting as self-defense and instead charging him with attempted burglary and felony firearm possession. England’s family was left to reckon with the sudden loss.