Hundreds of family members, friends and loved ones turned out in Waco, Texas, for a memorial in honor of Sakyra Young, a 21-year-old woman who was shot to death by her 20-year-old boyfriend Michael Matthew Howard on August 14, reports KCEN TV.  

On Wednesday, local news outlet KWKT spoke with Young's father and others who lamented the tragic loss and were left speechless by the gruesome crime. 

Latoya Wells, Young's mother, told KXXV that the killing was a tragic ending to a relationship that had been abusive for years. 

"She was a happy, loving young girl. She had a whole lot of things in front of her. He ran my daughter down and preyed on her like some animal," Wells said. "You have to be a disturbed individual to take somebody, lay them on the ground and say, 'I don't trust you,' and just shoot them. Close point range."

"It's almost like she was in this tornado, and I am trying to pull her out of it. It's hard for one person when you have the wrong crowd like his family sucking her right back in. Hate is a strong word, but I hate that boy. He killed my daughter a long time ago. It was her body I hadn't seen in two months and my first time seeing her was on her death bed. That's how I saw her," Wells added. 

The Waco Police Department told KXXV that Young was shot at around 6 p.m. while she was driving and crashed into a fence. Police performed CPR when they arrived and transported her to a hospital, but she died later that night. Howard was later arrested as he hid in another vehicle. 

Howard has been charged with murder and is facing other charges in an unrelated case, according to KCENT TV. A witness who said they knew Howard spoke with police, telling officers they heard the gunshots and came outside to see Howard carrying Young.

“Sakyra Young was holding the back of her neck, saying her neck hurt and Michael Howard said to [the witness] to help him. [The witness] told [officers] that he told Sakyra Young to be real still and tried to lower her to the ground not to hurt her neck,” the police affidavit states, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. 

Howard then shot her in the head. 

Wells said Howard spent years abusing her daughter and that their family believed they were close to getting her away from him.    

She said they had all gone to the police multiple times and tried counselors and other methods to free Young from Howard. Wells said at one point Young was pregnant and lost the baby five days after giving birth due to the violence Howard was inflicting on her.

"I want him to rot in hell. I want him to suffer like my daughter did. I don't want the death penalty. I want him to stay in there," Wells told KXXV.

The Waco High School Class of 1998 and other city residents raised $9,545 through a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the funeral costs.