She did everything she was supposed to do. She ended the relationship. She set the boundary. She said the words. And on a quiet Wednesday afternoon in Washington, D.C., in front of her three children, that boundary became the trigger. This week on No Tears For Black Girls: The Cases They Ignored, host Samantha Paul covers the February 11th, 2026 shooting death of Rayven Amuan Edwards — a 34-year-old mother of three from Northwest D.C. — whose ten-year-old daughter was injured at the scene, whose eight-year-old son witnessed everything, and whose three-year-old was taken by the suspect, triggering an Amber Alert before being found safe hours later. This episode also brings in the 2025 case of Alexis Walls out of Bryan, Texas — a 23-year-old mother killed by her common-law husband in front of their 18-month-old child — to show how intimate partner violence follows a recognizable, preventable script across state lines and zip codes. This is not a crime story. This is a pattern story. And until we start naming it that way, the names keep piling up. 🚨 Content warning: domestic violence, child witnesses, intimate partner homicide, firearm violence, and self-inflicted gunshot wound. If you or someone you know is in danger:📞 National DV Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 | Text START to 88788 | thehotline.org🏙️ DC SAFE: dcsafe.org🤍 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: Call or text 988 ------------------------- 📌 CASES DISCUSSED 1. Rayven Amuan Edwards | Washington, D.C. Date: February 11, 2026 Location: Glover Park, Northwest D.C. — 4100 block of W Street NW Victim: Rayven Amuan Edwards, 34, mother of three What happened: Shot and killed in front of her children by suspect Stephon Marquis Jeter, 35, her ex-partner and father of her youngest child. Her 10-year-old daughter was also shot (non-life-threatening). Her 3-year-old son was taken from the scene, prompting an Amber Alert. The child was later found safe at a relative's home in Prince George's County. The suspect led police on a pursuit into Southeast D.C., where he was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and later pronounced dead. Key detail: Rayven's mother, Lucy Edwards, told local reporters that the suspect had sent Rayven messages saying he wished she would die. Source: Metropolitan Police Department public update; Washington Post; local D.C. television reporting. 2. Alexis Walls | Bryan, Texas Date of killing: February 7, 2025 Date of sentencing: February 3, 2026 Victim: Alexis Walls, 23, mother of an 18-month-old child What happened: Suspect Brandon Michael Dickerson called 911 and reported that he had shot and killed his common-law wife. Court documents, per local reporting, stated he shot Alexis Walls 15 times. Their toddler was in the home and physically unharmed. Resolution: Dickerson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison by Judge Kyle Hawthorne, Brazos County. Key detail: Prosecutors described domestic violence as "a deadly and pervasive issue." They called Alexis "a light to everyone she met." Source: Local Bryan/College Station reporting; KBTX; Brazos County District Attorney's Office statements. CDC Report — Intimate partner homicides of women using National Violent Death Reporting System data (2018–2021): Most incidents occurred at the victim's residence; most involved firearms; proportion of non-Hispanic Black or African American women victims increased during 2020–2021; suspects were more frequently previously known to law enforcement — identified as a potential missed opportunity for prevention. Violence Policy Center — Analysis of homicides of Black women and girls: Black females were murdered by males at a rate nearly 3x higher than white females in 2020; most Black female victims knew their killers, with many killed by an intimate partner. These are not random tragedies. They are black women stories buried in pattern data that the media too often reduces to a two-paragraph brief.
