Angela Bates was a 47-year-old Black woman who had already endured unimaginable loss. A beloved wife, sister, and mother, she had previously lost three children to gun violence and had shared her story as a survivor, testifying during National Gun Violence Survivors Week. State Representative Darnell T. Brewer, who had met her then, later mourned her as a powerful voice against the violence that had marked her family’s life.
On the evening of April 26, 2024, police in South Euclid,
Ohio, responded to a call about an unresponsive female at Ms. Bates’s home on Grosvenor Road. Inside, they found her with multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency responders transported her to a local hospital, but she was pronounced dead from her injuries. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations was called to help process the crime scene.
Authorities arrested a suspect at the house, who was soon identified as Ms. Bates’s 19-year-old daughter, Nia Patterson. She was charged with murder and appeared in South Euclid Municipal Court, where her case was forwarded to a Cuyahoga County grand jury.
In May 2025, Nia Patterson, then 20, pleaded guilty in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to killing her mother. The following month, on June 5, 2025, a judge sentenced her to life in prison. Patterson will be eligible for parole after serving 18 years. As of June 2025, the criminal case is closed.
