On the evening of July 16, 2017, in the 700 block of Huybert Place in Virginia Beach, Virginia, 26-year-old Antonio Sullivan, a Black male, was shot and found dead at the scene. Police arrived about 7:15 p.m. The investigation immediately focused on his wife, 21-year-old Breanna Laren Sullivan, who was present and taken into custody and initially charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Court records described a tumultuous relationship with a history of domestic disputes. Antonio had been arrested previously for assaulting Breanna on several occasions though those charges were often dropped; a protective order Breanna filed in February 2017 alleged choking and a knife threat and referenced a long history of abuse. The couple lived together with their three-year-old daughter while Antonio was reportedly also involved with another woman, Shannan Crawford, and had said he planned to leave Breanna.

Breanna’s defense was that she acted in self-defense because Antonio had threatened to kill her and raised his fist, placing her and the child in danger. She was denied bond at her first court appearance on July 17, 2017; a judge later reduced the charge to voluntary manslaughter and dismissed the firearm count. In December 2018 a judge acquitted Breanna Sullivan of voluntary manslaughter, and she described the result as the best possible outcome to a tragic situation.