Kathrina Lynn Durham, a 21-year-old White / Caucasian female, was originally from Parsons, Kansas, and had moved to Arizona about two years before her death to pursue her passion for art and graphic design. Friends and family described her as a sweet, loving and caring person who was always willing to help those around her. Her creative work reportedly earned recognition in local newspapers, and online memorials remember her as a striving artist with notable skill in graphic design and a gentle
personality that left a strong impression on those who knew her.
By early 2017, Durham was living in Tempe, Arizona, in an apartment she shared with her boyfriend near Elliot and Kyrene roads. On January 12, 2017, Tempe police responded to reports of a shooting at the residence. When officers arrived, they found her inside the apartment with a gunshot wound to the chest. She was taken from the scene to a hospital in critical condition and later died of her injuries that same day. Memorial and case-tracking sites list her as having been lost on January 12, 2017, in the Tempe area, with some accounts noting that she was pronounced dead at a hospital in neighboring Chandler.
According to police and local news reports, Durham's live-in boyfriend, 25-year-old Bryan McCarthy, told officers that the shooting was accidental. He said he heard a knock at the apartment door, did not initially know who it was, and grabbed his gun. After realizing it was a roommate, he claimed he was in the process of making the firearm safe when it discharged and struck Durham in the chest. McCarthy himself called authorities to report what he described as an accidental shooting. Investigators, however, alleged that he was responsible for her death, and he was arrested at the scene and booked into jail on a manslaughter charge in connection with the shooting. Publicly available case summaries emphasize that he was identified as the sole suspect and arrested, but they do not provide clear, detailed information about the ultimate outcome of the criminal proceedings, and crime-tracking sites explicitly ask readers to share any updates that might exist.
