In the early hours of a Thursday morning in Northeast Memphis, a domestic disturbance escalated into a tragedy that claimed the lives of 10-year-old Mandia Shanbanka and 43-year-old Alice Williams. The quiet of the neighborhood was shattered on October 13, 2022, by a burst of gunfire that left a community in mourning and a family irrevocably broken.
The events unfolded shortly before 2 a.m.
at a residence on Dockham Drive, where an argument reportedly broke out between 21-year-old Allante McAfee and his girlfriend's 19-year-old sister. According to police reports, the verbal altercation turned violent when the sister allegedly brandished a knife. In response, McAfee is said to have drawn a handgun.
Alice Williams, the mother of the young women, stepped in to de-escalate the volatile situation. It was in this moment that McAfee allegedly opened fire. Witnesses reported that he shot his girlfriend's sister multiple times in the back. Tragically, both Alice Williams and her young daughter, Mandia Shanbanka, were also struck by the gunfire. Williams and the 10-year-old girl were pronounced dead at the scene. The 19-year-old was critically injured in the shooting.
Following the incident, McAfee reportedly flagged down responding Memphis police officers and confessed to the shooting, stating, 'I did it.' He was taken into custody and subsequently charged with two counts of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. In his statement to investigators, McAfee claimed that he 'blacked out' during the altercation and did not intend to shoot and kill Williams and the young girl. Neighbors later recounted that police had been called to the residence on previous occasions for domestic disputes.
