Ana Hellia Berinobis-McLemore, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot during the early morning hours of May 22, 2022, in Waterloo, Iowa. At approximately 3:24 a.m., Waterloo police officers were dispatched to the 600 block of Sumner Street after receiving a report of gunfire. As officers searched the surrounding neighborhood, they located a vehicle in the 200 block of Manson Street with Berinobis-McLemore wounded in the passenger seat.
Responding officers immediately began
administering first aid until Waterloo Fire Rescue personnel arrived. She was transported to Allen Hospital, but the injuries proved fatal, and she was pronounced dead shortly afterward. Investigators determined that someone had opened fire on the vehicle near a residential intersection. Although some early reports described the vehicle as abandoned when officers found it, authorities did not publicly provide a complete account of who had been driving, how many other people had been inside, or what occurred in the moments leading up to the shooting.
The killing became Waterloo's third homicide of 2022. Police did not publicly identify a suspected gunman, describe a possible getaway vehicle, or announce a clear motive. Investigators appealed directly to anyone who had witnessed suspicious activity, heard the gunfire, possessed surveillance footage, or knew something about the circumstances surrounding the attack. In July 2022, Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers announced a $1,500 reward for information that could help investigators solve the case, indicating that authorities were still seeking the evidence necessary to identify and arrest those responsible.
At the time of her death, Berinobis-McLemore was awaiting trial on a first-degree robbery charge connected to the August 2020 killing of Vincent Hemenway in Waterloo. Police alleged that two masked men had attempted to rob Hemenway while he and others were gathered inside a garage on Adrian Street. Hemenway resisted and was shot. Berinobis-McLemore and Ralpheal Williams were subsequently charged with first-degree robbery, while Robert Lee Williams Jr. was later charged with first-degree murder. Public reporting noted this pending case when covering her death, but authorities did not announce that the earlier homicide prosecution was the motive for her killing or that anyone involved in that case was suspected of shooting her.
Berinobis-McLemore was born in Waterloo on April 3, 1996, to Corey McLemore and Dawn Berinobis. She worked at Tyson Manufacturing, where she served as a union steward. Her funeral service was held on June 3, 2022, at Hope City Church, followed by burial at Poyner Township Cemetery. She left behind her parents, siblings, grandparents, a niece, and other relatives who were forced to mourn while the circumstances of her death remained unresolved.
No publicly reported arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction has been located in connection with Berinobis-McLemore's killing. The available reports continued to describe the investigation as an unsolved homicide and did not name any suspects or persons of interest. The reward appeal and repeated requests for public assistance reflected the central difficulty facing investigators: someone fired into the vehicle and ended her life, but the information needed to establish who was responsible had not publicly emerged.
