In the early hours of a Wednesday morning in Detroit, Michigan, the life of 30-year-old Shinique Collins was tragically cut short. On May 1, 2019, inside her home at the Jefferson Square Apartments, Collins was shot and killed by her fiancé, Andre Waters. The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m., shattering the peace of the night and leaving a family irrevocably broken. Just two months prior, Waters had proposed to Collins, a moment that should have signaled a future of happiness, but instead became a prelude to unimaginable violence.
On the night of the fatal altercation, Collins and Waters had been spending time with friends who were visiting their apartment with their own child. A verbal dispute escalated after the guests had retired for the evening. While the couple's three children and the guest's child were asleep upstairs, the argument between Collins and Waters turned violent. Waters produced a 9mm handgun and fatally shot Collins. In the immediate aftermath, he turned the weapon on himself in an apparent murder-suicide attempt.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Shinique Collins deceased. Andre Waters was discovered with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head but was still alive. He was transported to a local hospital and underwent surgery, where he was listed in critical condition. However, he ultimately succumbed to his injuries and died. The four children inside the home at the time of the shooting were all under the age of 10 and were unharmed. The case concluded with the death of the sole suspect, Andre Waters, leaving a community to mourn the loss of a mother and grapple with the devastating impact of domestic violence.
