No murder charges will be filed against the woman who killed a Northern Kentucky University law student.
Cierra Allen was killed the weekend before last. The Hamilton County prosecutor made the announcement that no charges will be filed in a press release Tuesday.
Often, charges aren’t filed because there’s not enough evidence, but in this case, the police know who shot 30-year-old Allen. They know where, when, why and how she was shot, and it’s all those facts that led the prosecutor to this conclusion.
“This, by all accounts, is a tragic situation,” Prosecutor Joe Deters said in the statement released by his office, but, he says, “This is clearly self-defense.”
One of Allen’s friends spoke to Local 12 at a vigil that was held for the mother of two.
“We just want justice for her,” said LaNae Allen (no relation). “We don’t want this to just go away. Justice really needs to be served for this.”
And here’s why there may be no justice to serve, as we pieced together what happened the night of Sept. 11:
Allen’s evening on Sept. 10 apparently began at the Avenue Event Center in Mt. Healthy where she was attending a youth football fundraiser. There, investigators say she got in a physical altercation with another woman — a woman, as it turns out, who was a longtime friend.
After the event, the prosecutor says Allen showed up at the woman’s home in Walnut Hills at 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, pounding on her door. He says the woman at the home, “In fear for her safety, approached her front door with a firearm. When the shooter opened the door, Ms. Allen charged at her and the shooter fired one shot.”
“It was pretty shocking, unfortunately,” said LaNae Allen. “When I seen her picture and her name come across the news, everybody was trying to figure out what would have led to her losing her life.”
And now they know, but the conclusion by the prosector won’t make the grief any easier to bear. Allen’s picture is still on the NKU Chase Law School website, where the provost described her as an “outstanding member of the Chase student body” who “volunteered her time to serve as a Chase ambassador to welcome prospective students to the law school.”
A GoFundMe page was set up, presumably to help Allen’s two now-motherless boys.
“She is loved; she is missed by a whole lot of people,” said LaNae Allen. “This story, this incident, has touched a whole lot of people.”
Local 12 spoke to a relative and neighbor of the woman who shot Allen. She says the two have been friends for years, and she’s not sure what they were fighting about, but she says Allen’s friend is having a very hard time coping with the fact that she shot and killed her longtime friend.
The prosecutor says the woman who shot Allen rendered first aid and called 911. Friends say Allen’s behavior as described by police is out of character for her.
She had her master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati and was nearly done with law school.
Allen’s boys are just 4 and 7 years old.
