Did police do enough to protect woman slain during FaceTime chat? Her family wants answers

WEST PALM BEACH — Marla McKenney described the painful memories that replay in her mind. She recalled finding her 18-year-old daughter, Kelvi McCray, gravely wounded in the kitchen of the family's West Palm Beach home near Gaines Park after Kelvi was shot while on a FaceTime call with friends.

During a news conference on Monday, April 15, McKenney and her attorneys said they are seeking answers regarding the West Palm Beach Police Department's handling of events that preceded the fatal shooting.

Investigators said 19-year-old Keishawn Shaw, McCray's estranged boyfriend, shot and killed her on the night of March 6 while she was FaceTiming with friends, then shot himself.

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McCray died at a hospital that night while Shaw initially survived his injuries. Police charged Shaw with first-degree murder the following morning, but he died that afternoon.

Investigators said Shaw and McCray had ended their relationship in January, but Shaw was living at McCray's home at the time of the attack because he had no other place else to stay.

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West Palm Beach-based attorneys Nick Johnson and Greg Francis said their office has submitted a public records records request to the police department as part of their investigation into whether officers acted appropriately in their handling of the situation.

The attorneys said a review of the records will inform the family's decision of whether to pursue legal action against the city and its police department.

Under Florida law, a government agency must receive six months' notice before a lawsuit can formally be filed. A spokesperson for the police department said Monday that he was not aware of any litigation being filed in relation to McCray's case and said the department does not comment on pending litigation.

Of particular concern, Johnson said during the news conference, was whether police appropriately responded to a reported act of domestic violence that occurred between Shaw and McCray on the day before McCray was killed.

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Attorneys: Should police have given Kelvi McCray a place to hide?

Johnson said Shaw held McCray against her will and threatened her at gunpoint. McCray retreated to Gaines Park, where she called 911. While at the park speaking to police, McCray noticed Shaw's vehicle and pointed it out to officers, Johnson said. Officers pursued it but soon ended the chase.

"After the pursuit was called off, at no point in time did any of the officers offer Ms. McCray a safe place to go," Johnson said.

"They didn’t offer to relocate her to an undisclosed location to keep her safe from someone who was foreseeable to come back home and commit another violent crime, and that’s exactly what happened the very next day."

Johnson said conversations with retired police officers from a local law-enforcement agency and with one who worked for an agency out of state indicated that McCray's situation warranted additional steps to keep her safe.

"At a minimum, Ms. McCray should have been offered the opportunity to relocate to another location with the help of authorities to keep her safe, " he said. "That simply wasn’t done here, and she lost her life the very next day."

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Kelsi McCray was Inlet Grove graduate, attending Palm Beach State College

McCray graduated last year from Inlet Grove High School in Riviera Beach and was in her first year at Palm Beach State College. She had worked as a model and a hair stylist and had recently obtained a license to be a security officer.

McKenney described each day since her daughter's death as a struggle.

"My daughter was everything to me," she said. "She was smart. She was confident in what she wanted to be life.

"It’s really hard. I just don’t want this happen to another (child). I don’t want another Kelvi McCray (incident) ever."

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on Twitter at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Murder victim's family: Did West Palm Beach police do enough to protect her?