Early in the morning on April 21, 2012, Sharmel T. Edwards, a 49-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot by five Las Vegas, Nevada police officers. Her death occurred while the national discussion of police brutality was gaining publicity in the wake of similar killings and about a year before the creation of Black Lives Matter.

Edwards was a single mother living with her two teenage daughters. On the night of her death, she had gone on a date with her boyfriend, Ken Droog, at his apartment. After Droog fell asleep, Edwards took his Cadillac and headed to a local bar for drinks. When he woke up a few hours later, realizing that his car was missing, Droog called Edwards, who didn’t have her cell phone. He subsequently called police and reported his car stolen. He also informed them that his handgun was in the car’s center console.

Responding to the call, Las Vegas police officer Todd Edwards drove around looking for Droog’s car. Around 3:37 a.m., he spotted the vehicle and began following it. Sharmel stopped the car a few minutes later near the bar she had visited earlier, and other officers arriving on the scene reportedly ordered her to exit. Over about 30 minutes of negotiations, she never responded to police commands. Eventually, according to the police and several witnesses, she came out with Droog’s pistol in her hands. Five officers fired at her and she died at the scene.