In the early morning hours of September 26, 2016, the life of 19-year-old Nya Hammond, a Black / African American female, was tragically cut short in a parking lot in Glendale, Wisconsin. A dedicated mother to her three-year-old son, Hammond was a hardworking employee at the Orthopaedic Hospital of Wisconsin, often waking up at 5:00 a.m. to begin her shift as a cleaner. On that fateful Monday, police responded to a call around 5:30 a.m.
about a person lying on the ground and discovered Hammond, who had been shot. Despite having shallow breaths when the first officer arrived, she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The investigation revealed she had been shot in the middle of her back.
The primary suspect in Hammond's death was her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child, 21-year-old Pierre Gardner. In the days leading up to the shooting, Hammond had ended her relationship with Gardner due to a history of domestic violence. Her family later revealed that just two weeks prior, she had sent her mother text messages with pictures of injuries she sustained after Gardner allegedly beat her with an extension cord. The medical examiner who performed Hammond's autopsy noted scarring on her body consistent with these claims of abuse. After the breakup, Gardner had reportedly been looking for Hammond, showing up at her grandmother's house on two separate occasions.
On the morning of her death, Gardner was aware of Hammond's work schedule and location, as he had previously given her rides to the hospital. Security footage from the hospital's parking lot captured Gardner's vehicle entering and leaving the lot before Hammond's arrival. When Hammond arrived, she was seen getting into Gardner's car. A short time later, the video shows the vehicle starting to leave before Hammond exits and moves towards a security guard shack. Gardner is then seen getting out of the car, and a flash consistent with a gunshot is visible. A security officer at the hospital reported hearing two loud noises and saw Hammond run towards him before she collapsed, unable to speak and with blood coming from her mouth.
Following the incident, law enforcement quickly identified Gardner as the suspect. His mother, upon learning of the shooting, confronted him at her mother's house, where she found him sitting in a bathtub. When she asked if he had killed Hammond, he reportedly just stared at her in a way she had never seen before. Gardner was arrested, and a. 380 caliber casing was recovered from the scene. He was subsequently charged with one count of first-degree reckless homicide with the use of a dangerous weapon.
