Renard Lumpikwas was 23 when he was shot and killed inside an apartment in the 11500 block of Meadows Court, Van Buren Township, Michigan, on September 5, 2014. Police were called after reports of a domestic dispute involving gunfire; officers found Lumpikwas on the floor with a fatal gunshot wound and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Present in the apartment were Lumpikwas’s mother and brother. Prosecutors charged his 43-year-old mother, Diane Letice Orr, with second-degree murder and felony firearm. Testimony at early proceedings described a volatile episode in which Lumpikwas allegedly became uncontrollable, throwing furniture and assaulting his brother and mother; Orr’s attorney said the shooting was accidental while she acted to protect her other son and an infant grandchild.

After a preliminary exam Orr posted $25,000 bond and the case was bound over to Wayne County Circuit Court. On November 14, 2014, a circuit court judge granted a motion to quash the information, dismissing the charges on the grounds that the lower court had abused its discretion in sending the case to trial.

Did anyone who knew Renard or the family see signs of the escalating conflict before September 5, 2014?