A Tennessee man will spend the rest of his life in prison after fatally shooting a grandmother in her front yard while she was holding her grandchild, as seen on Facebook Live. Darrell Peterson, 39, was sentenced to life plus 25 years in prison on Friday for the 2020 murder of Patricia Draper Bryant, 55, according to a news release from the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office. Peterson was convicted in May of first-degree murder and additional offenses.
On May 16, 2020, Bryant was struck and killed on Knob Drive in Frayser, just north of Memphis. According to police, the incident occurred while a group of ladies were fighting across the street. According to authorities, after the group damaged windows, Peterson drove up to them, screamed at them, and fired six shots.
No one in the group was injured, but a stray bullet wounded Bryant in the chest two houses away. Police claimed they discovered her lying in the grass with a gunshot wound. She was transferred to a hospital and died. Peterson surrendered to authorities a few days later and was charged the following year.
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According to prosecutors, the disagreement that resulted in the bloodshed was streamed on Facebook Live.
According to court filings, one lady was shown in the video armed with a knife as she and another woman reportedly busted out the windows of a third woman’s home.
The victim’s husband, James Bryant, spoke to local NBC affiliate WMC about the sorrow of his wife’s death. The mother of three and grandmother of seven was slain while holding her one-year-old grandson.
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“My baby died right here in my arms because some stupid, crazy human being got a gun in his hand,” the father told the television channel. “It’s out of control,” James explained. “It’s out of control and ludicrous. They killed my wife. “She hasn’t done anything.”
Neighbor Demetrice Clark informed the WMC about the ruckus.
“I mean, he was running and shooting, shooting like he was out of his mind,” Clark recalled. “He really could have hit me.”