PHOENIX — A Phoenix woman was convicted and sentenced after shooting and killing her boyfriend during a breakup, then jumping out a window to go after him.
Renee Lewis was sentenced last week to 10.5 years in prison after accepting a guilty plea for manslaughter.
On May 18, 2018, Phoenix police responded to an apartment complex near 43rd and Dunlap avenues. There they found Darnell Brown had been shot in the neck.
Renee Lewis told the police, “I wanted him to die if we can’t be together.”
She allegedly tried to shoot him a second time, but her gun malfunctioned.
Lewis and the victim fought over the gun. After getting it away from her, the victim attempted to leave the apartment, only to have Lewis crash through a window to go after him.
Police say the bullet entered the victim’s neck and exited near his right shoulder blade.
According to court records, an upstairs neighbor saw Lewis on her patio holding Brown. When he asked if they needed help, Brown said, “Help me, big bro, they’re trying to kill me.”
The neighbor called the police, and Brown was taken to a local hospital where he later died after several surgeries.
Court records show that police removed several children out a bedroom window so they wouldn’t have to see the shooting scene.
Lewis was charged with second-degree murder after Brown's death.
