On the evening of Friday, September 2, 2016, 61-year-old Barbara Lee Ann Perry was struck by a stray bullet while in the parking lot of a Family Dollar store in Des Moines, Iowa. A Black/African American woman and grandmother of 24, she suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was taken to a local hospital, where she died the following day.

The Des Moines Police Department opened a homicide investigation, but public appeals for information produced few leads. No suspects have been publicly identified and no arrests have been announced; the case is listed among unsolved homicides in Iowa. Barbara’s family remembered her as a loving mother and grandmother; her death was described as random and senseless.

Anyone who was in the area that night or who may have information about the shooting is asked to come forward.