Latasha Hassell Brunt returned to her home in West Town on Monday afternoon to find the door kicked in, her family’s belongings strewn about and a vacant spot where a video game system once sat.
What really upset the 22-year-old mother of three, relatives said, was that neighbors told her that they saw three young men break into her home, and two of them were her relatives.
Feeling angry and betrayed, Hassell Brunt rounded up her husband, Prince Brunt, her brother and a friend, and they set out in search of the burglars. When the group confronted the alleged burglars a few blocks away around 6 p.m. Monday, a quarrel ensued.
Police said Hassell Brunt called them, and two officers attempted to intervene. A single gunshot was fired, fatally striking Hassell Brunt.
“Her last words were, ‘I’m shot,’ ” her brother Dushanti Hassell, 31, said Tuesday. “She couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it. It just ain’t right.”
Police and relatives said the gunman, a teen cousin of Brunt, fired as he ran away. A second teenage relative also fled as police questioned a third man not related to the victim’s family.
He was arrested, questioned again and released. He and the unarmed teenager are considered witnesses to the shooting and are not facing charges in the homicide investigation, police said.
The bullet came from a .45 caliber handgun, possibly the gun stolen Monday during the burglary at Hassell Brunt’s home in the 2700 block of West Maypole Avenue, police said.
The gun was recovered near the scene of the shooting, which occurred in the 3100 block of West Walnut Street, outside Beidler Elementary School. The gun will undergo ballistics tests to determine if it was used in the killing, police said.
Police do not believe that Hassell Brunt was the intended target.
“We believe he was probably trying to fire a shot at police,” said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. “However, there were family members alongside police, and they were involved in this. It is never a good idea, anytime, to try and attempt to stop a burglary in process or apprehend someone.”
