Latrena May, 27, was shot and killed outside her two-family home on Tremont Avenue in East Orange, New Jersey, on the evening of May 1, 2015. According to reports, a dispute with her former boyfriend and father of her child, Andre Higgs, escalated on the porch. A passing East Orange police detective, Kemon Lee, stopped to intervene after May flagged him down. Higgs allegedly produced a handgun and shot May three times; the detective returned fire and struck Higgs in the legs. May was pronounced dead at the scene while the couple’s four-year-old daughter was inside the house.

After the shooting, Higgs barricaded himself inside the home where the child was sleeping and was later taken into custody and charged with murder and weapons offenses. Reports say May had recently called 911, saying Higgs had entered her home weeks earlier, choked her, and threw her to the ground in front of their daughter. An Essex County jury later convicted Higgs of murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and hindering prosecution, and he was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 68 years.

Does anyone have information about May’s life in East Orange or memories of her work at Pride Academy Charter School that could add context to this case?