Six days before completing her doctorate, Shandrika Hayslett described herself on social media as “a little black girl from North Memphis.”
From Trezevant High School to Tennessee State University. From one degree to another. A career in health care. A home. A husband. And this spring, at 34, a doctorate.
A motivational speaker, Hayslett made clear that she hoped her accomplishments might inspire others.
“It was never about the degree but the woman He created me to be!” she posted. “I didn’t do it for me but all of the women who look like me! Be DELUSIONAL when it comes to your Dreams.”
It was a Saturday night, and she was back in North Memphis, this time helping celebrate a relative preparing to take an important step of their own — leaving for college.
She would not survive the night.
Violence erupts
Hayslett was killed and four other people were wounded on Aug. 8 after gunfire erupted during a large trunk party in the 1700 block of Brookins Street in the Douglass community.
“What happened Saturday night was senseless. A family gathered to celebrate a young person heading off to college, and it ended with a life lost to gun violence,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young said in a statement. “Her life had so much promise, and her loss is devastating.”
Memphis police said officers responded shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday after a fight broke out and multiple shots were fired.
Two 25-year-old men — Naskial Wilson and Damion Thomas — have since been arrested. Police say each faces first-degree murder, six counts of attempted first-degree murder, reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon and employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
Police initially said investigators had identified three suspects. Wilson and Thomas were arrested in Arlington after warrants were issued. No charges have been publicly announced against the third person investigators said they had identified.
Three of the four surviving shooting victims have been released from the hospital, according to police. The fourth was upgraded from critical to stable condition.
A community responds
At a community gathering Monday, Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis said investigators were continuing to work the case and indicated additional arrests could follow.
But even as police focused on who killed Hayslett, Young and other community leaders urged Memphis to remember who had been killed. She had recently earned her doctorate, and she and her husband had been looking forward to starting a family, Young said.
Former co-workers at Christ Community Health Services, where Hayslett worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, remembered someone who “cared deeply for others and dedicated herself to serving this community,” Young said.
State Rep.-elect Telisa Franklin, whose district includes the Douglass area, challenged the community not to allow the shooting to erase what had brought hundreds of people together that night.
“How do we make sure that one tragic act does not overshadow the gathering and what it was truly about: Celebrating one of our young people?” Franklin asked.
A life on the rise
Hayslett’s social-media pages offer snapshots of the life behind the headline.
A member of Trezevant High School’s Class of 2009, she later attended Tennessee State University and proudly returned for homecoming as an alumna. In 2018 came another cap and gown, this time celebrating a master’s degree from Strayer University.
Her career was in health-care administration. A biography published by the Arts Over Odds Foundation, where Hayslett sat on the board, says she held a Bachelor of Health Science and a master’s degree in health care administration and had worked as an administrator for a primary care and urgent care practice.
Other posts marked milestones beyond work and school: buying a home with her fiancé in 2019, marriage, and a relationship she frequently described through the language of faith and prayer.
Then came the doctorate.
Her Instagram biography charted the educational climb in three abbreviations: “BS.. MHA.. DBA.” The final initials stand for Doctor of Business Administration, an academic doctorate rather than a medical degree.
And this spring, she celebrated the newest title.
“New Chapter loading,” Hayslett wrote. “Shandrika Hayslett signing out! Dr. Hayslett signing in!”
