Nikki Marie Loffredo was 42 when she was shot while walking in Des Moines, Iowa, in the early morning of July 27, 2024. Officers found her at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Ovid Avenue with multiple gunshot wounds to her legs around 3:37 a.m. Tourniquets and other lifesaving measures were applied at the scene before she was taken to Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where she died on July 29, 2024.

Des Moines police identified 43-year-old James Bernard Johnson as the suspect after video footage showed a GMC Yukon stop near Loffredo, the driver firing a handgun at least three times, then leaving the scene. Investigators arrested Johnson on August 2, 2024, and charged him with first-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm. During proceedings, Johnson said he had been driving after an argument, had used cocaine and marijuana, offered Loffredo drugs, and shot because he felt disrespected; he claimed he meant only to fire at the ground. Text messages in which he admitted to having popped someone were introduced at trial.

Anyone who knew Nikki or has information about what happened that night is asked to come forward.