In the summer of 2016, a workplace dispute escalated into a deadly shooting that claimed the life of 45-year-old Tamara Johnson. On the afternoon of July 26th, a resident of the Grand Oaks Apartments in Grand Blanc, Jacquelyne Tyson, entered the leasing office where Johnson was working. Tyson had a history of complaining about perceived toxins in her apartment and had a brief exchange with Johnson before pulling out a revolver and shooting her in the head.
Another employee, Lyric Work, who was eight months pregnant, was also shot and tragically died. Medical professionals were able to deliver her baby girl, who survived. Eyewitnesses in the clubhouse at the time of the shooting described the chaotic and horrific scene. A superintendent at the apartment complex, upon hearing the commotion, entered the office to the smell of gunpowder and found Johnson shot.
Jacquelyne Tyson was arrested for the murders. Her legal proceedings were marked by delays as she was initially found incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state psychiatric hospital. After undergoing treatment, she was eventually deemed competent. In a non-jury trial that concluded in 2019, Tyson was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Tamara Johnson and first-degree murder for the death of Lyric Work. She was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole.
