Tamecca Perry: Pregnant mother gunned down over loud music
She didn't die over money. She didn't die over a man. She died over music.
Twenty-three-year-old Tamecca Perry of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was just days away from giving birth to her third child when an argument with a neighbor turned into a fatal encounter for her. She was shot by another woman in the early hours of March 6, 2016.
"She took a cousin. She took a mother. She took an aunt. She took a niece. She took all of that from us and all over some music,” Dana Freeman, Perry's cousin, told WITI in March. “I don’t care what it was over. A pregnant person didn’t deserve that, and now we have to deal with the fact that she’s gone.”
It all started on March 5. While outside her home, Perry was confronted with an irate Shanika Minor, a 24-year-old woman who delivers newspapers for a living, over the blaring music she played that wouldn't allow Minor's family member to have any rest.
Listen to an FBI podcast about the case here
Days after the murder, law enforcement was slow to release a detailed account of what happened: All the public was told was that Minor allegedly pulled a gun and shot Perry, who stumbled inside her home and collapsed in front of her two children.
Now we know that Minor and Perry were actually old high school classmates. Also, Perry and Minor's mother lived in the same duplex and it was Minor's mother who told her that her neighbor continued to blast music at ungodly hours.
“Minor’s mother ran to the scene and implored her daughter not to hurt the pregnant woman,” the FBI said, according to the Washington Post.
Minor reportedly fired a shot in the air and sped off in her vehicle -- but that wasn't the end of it. About 3 a.m. the next morning, Minor appeared in the backyard of Perry's home demanding a fight with her, according to news reports.
“Minor’s mother again ran to the scene, this time positioning herself between her daughter and the neighbor, trying to keep the peace,” a news release from the FBI says. “Witnesses said Minor reached over her mother’s shoulder and fired her gun, striking the woman in the chest.”
Her baby also died.
But the mysterious doesn't end there. After firing the shot, Minor disappeared off the map. Vanished. No trace. She was then put on the FBI's infamous Most Wanted List.
"Shanika S. Minor may have contact with people in Missouri, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, Ohio, and possibly Georgia. Minor's last known address was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Additionally, Minor does not have any history of prior travel outside of the United States or any contact with individuals residing internationally," the FBI said.
Minor was taken into custody early Friday after someone called the FBI Public Access line, according to ABC News. She was apprehended at a motel near the Fayetteville, North Carolina airport.
Law enforcement has very little of a paper trail but someone in North Carolina tipped them, according to news reports. “There is no record she had any reliable employment,” an FBI special agent told the Post. “I don’t think she has a lot of resources on her own. Clearly, people have assisted her.”
Minor is only the 10th woman to ever be on the Most Wanted list since 1950.
“The brutal murder of a mother and her unborn child is reprehensible,” says a statement by Robert Shields, FBI Milwaukee Division special agent, the Washington Post reports. “The FBI will provide all of our available resources to assist the Milwaukee Police Department in locating and apprehending this violent fugitive.”
As for Perry's family, they were planning on welcoming a new life into their clan and now they are grieving after funerals. Perry's brother was shot and killed three weeks after her death, the family told WTI. They also had been imploring Minor to turn herself in, so that they can have closure to this nightmare.
“Wherever you at Shanika, I would appreciate it if you would come. I don`t want you to get hurt. I just want you to come forward,” Perry’s mother, Cynthia Freeman told WTI. “I just want her caught so I can rest. I don`t sleep. I don`t eat. I really want to know the reason why she would pull a gun out and do what she did to my daughter.”
Anyone with information on her whereabouts should call Milwaukee Police at 414-935-7360.
