On a summer evening in Knoxville, Tennessee, twenty-year-old Martaysha Flack, a female student at the Paul Mitchell School of Beauty, was fatally shot on July 28, 2021. Known to her loved ones as 'Tay,' she was described as being full of life, joy, and laughter. The incident occurred around 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the Holston Oaks Apartments, where she was discovered inside a vehicle with at least one gunshot wound.
Alongside her in the vehicle, a male victim was also found with a gunshot wound, though his injuries were not life-threatening. Tragically, Martaysha's death marked the third loss to gun violence for her family in a short period. Her cousin, Chaka Sligh, had been killed just eleven days prior, and her other cousin, Jamarion 'Dada' Gillette, had been fatally shot four months earlier. Martaysha left behind a young daughter, her parents, and siblings.
The Knoxville Police Department is actively investigating her death, which is being treated as a homicide. The case remains unsolved, and authorities have publicly sought help in identifying men who were captured on camera at the scene around the time of the shooting. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly named in connection with her murder. The investigation is ongoing.
