Shalecia Shavea Williams, a 21-year-old Black woman, was a young mother whose life was cut short in the spring of 2019. Her mother, Shelita Thomas, described her as having a "big heart" and said she "never met a stranger." Shalecia was the mother of a one-year-old boy, and her family remembered how much she loved him. Her father, Thomas Asbury, said his daughter was a fragile woman who "all she wanted is to just be free and enjoy life."
On the afternoon of Sunday, April 28, 2019, a shooting occurred inside an apartment at the Heritage Park Apartments on Snow Lane in east Charlotte, North Carolina. Shalecia and a 29-year-old man, identified as her boyfriend, were both found with gunshot wounds. Emergency responders transported both victims to a local hospital, where Shalecia succumbed to her injuries. The man was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and was expected to recover.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department launched an investigation, which they said indicated the shooting stemmed from an argument. The day after the shooting, with assistance from the Gastonia Police Department, officers arrested 23-year-old Reco Lamont Perry Jr. and charged him with murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury. Police also arrested 18-year-old Beyonce Rorie, Perry's fiancée, charging her with accessory after the fact to murder.
In court, Perry’s defense team argued that he had gone to the apartment unarmed, was set up for a robbery, and had shot Shalecia in self-defense. The prosecution did not contest these allegations. Perry apologized to Shalecia’s family for her death.
In a plea deal, the murder charge was reduced. In November 2019, Reco Perry pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to serve 38 to 58 months in prison. Shalecia’s family expressed their heartbreak and anger over the sentence. "I would have like to see him get a life sentence that he deserves,” her mother said. The case was closed following the sentencing in November 2019.
