Shanae Monique Clayton, 42, was shot and killed on April 24, 2020, in Pontiac, Michigan. A Black/African American mother of three and grandmother to one, Clayton had been in an 18-year relationship that her family described as turbulent and marked by domestic violence. On the day she ended the relationship she was in her vehicle with her long-time boyfriend, Roderick Junior Washington, also known as Roderick Junior Brooks, when he shot her and left her in the car. Washington then drove to a sheriff’s substation in Pontiac and turned himself in.

Washington was convicted of second-degree murder in Clayton’s death. He also faced related convictions for two counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and received a lengthy prison sentence; the court ordered more than $26,000 in restitution to Clayton’s mother. What details about the relationship or the hours before April 24 might help explain how events escalated that day?