In a tragic turn of events on a Thursday morning, Apr. 14, 2011 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 29-year-old Tasha Nicole Veney, an African American mother, lost her life in a violent encounter. The incident, which unfolded outside a local daycare center, was perpetrated by her former boyfriend, 38-year-old Chiedazo 'Chad' Hardrick. This shocking event left the community reeling and a family devastated by the loss of a compassionate and loving daughter, sister, and mother.
The circumstances
leading up to the fatal shooting revealed a troubled and volatile relationship. Just days before her death, Veney had sought and obtained a protection-from-abuse order against Hardrick, ordering him to stay away from her and their three children. The couple had a history of domestic violence, with a recent incident in late March where Hardrick was arrested for choking Veney and threatening to kill her. He had been released from jail shortly after on a reduced bond. Compounding the tense situation, Hardrick's mother had passed away just the evening before the murder-suicide.
On that fateful morning, moments after Tasha Veney had dropped off her and Hardrick's 11-month-old son at the Little Lamb Day Care, Hardrick confronted her. He shot her multiple times in the chest and head before turning the gun on himself, ending his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police arrived to find a grim scene: Veney's body was partially inside her car, while Hardrick's body lay on the sidewalk nearby with the gun beside him.
The murder-suicide left their three children, including two daughters aged 8 and 9, without their parents. Family members stepped in to care for the children in the wake of the tragedy. The community mourned the loss of Tasha Veney, who was remembered for her kind and loving nature. The investigation by the Johnstown police concluded that the incident was a murder-suicide stemming from a domestic dispute, a final, tragic act in a history of violence.
