A Barnard College student has been charged with first-degree murder after a domestic dispute between her and her mother resulted in tragedy. 

The New York Post reports Malika Jones and her mother, Inell Jones, got into two heated disagreements on February 16 in the kitchen of their Rahway, New Jersey, home. The dispute stemmed from Malika’s enrollment status at Barnard.

According to an affidavit, Malika and Inell were arguing around 7 a.m. about Malika’s “living situation and going back to school.” The two began fighting again around 3 p.m., reports The New York Times. 

The second argument ended with Inell being stabbed in her chest, according to police.

George Mars, a 72-year-old tenant who was in the home at the time of the incident, said he heard Inell shout that her daughter “had cut herself and needed to go to the hospital.” The argument continued further, and Mars heard “dishes breaking in the kitchen area.” About 20 minutes later he saw Malika running toward him yelling “she tried to hurt me,” he told investigators.

When he got to the kitchen he saw Inell lying on the floor, covered in blood with a knife close in proximity. He attempted to calm Malika down for about 20 minutes before they were able to call the police.

Malika told 911 operators her mother “tried to hurt her” and was now on the kitchen floor with a stab wound, adding “that it was an accident.”

Inell was pronounced dead at the scene, and Malika was taken into custody, according to a statement released by Union County Prosecutor’s Office. Officers noted that the daughter had a cut on her wrist and that her shirt was bloody.

Dennis Hickerson-Breedon, Malika’s lawyer, said the 22-year-old acted in self-defense.

“We believe that down the line, facts are going to reveal themselves that will vindicate her,” Hickerson-Breedon said. “We don’t believe Malika is a murderer.”

It is unclear how long Malika had been back home from college, but Hickerson-Breedon said she had been planning on returning soon.

Bwog, an independent, student-run news site at Columbia University, reported that Malika had been a part of the class of 2020, according to the college’s social media, but they could not find her in the college’s directory.

During her leave from Barnard, Malika took classes at Borough of Manhattan Community College, according to her lawyer. He added that she was interested in dentistry and was a model student with no priors.

“For a young woman that has been a model student, model citizen with no criminal history whatsoever, to just all of the sudden be charged with a first-degree offense without any sort of justification, it’s just not practicable,” he said.

A spokesman for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, Mark Spivey, said Malika will have her first court appearance on Friday at 9 a.m., NJ.com reports.

She is being held in Union County Jail.