A confrontation in a Saint Paul parking lot on the evening of October 10, 2020, left 44-year-old LaWanda Wade dead. Wade had been grilling with people at her apartment earlier that night when an argument with a neighboring couple escalated into a physical fight in the Stevens Street West lot. Witnesses and family say Wade threw a grill, the couple struck her with baseball bats, and during the brawl Wade was shot.

Officers found Wade face down; she was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy recorded a single gunshot to her back that penetrated the lung and heart. Another woman was shot in the arm and was expected to survive.

Police arrested 42-year-old Nicole Love Smith and charged her with second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree attempted murder. Witnesses and family members say Smith was trying to protect Wade and may have been aiming at the other woman when Wade was struck; Smith initially denied shooting anyone but was identified by a 911 caller who said the shooter had accidentally shot her friend.

If anyone witnessed the fight or was in the area that night, can you share what you saw?