EASTPOINTE, Mich. – Jennifer Harris, a mother of six, was stabbed to death at the McDonald’s in Eastpointe where she worked.
An employee she had sent home, 26-year-old Afeni Muhammad, is accused of the murder.
--> Fundraiser started for 6 children of McDonald’s manager killed in Eastpointe
As the suspect faces first-degree murder charges, Harris’s family and community are left to pick up the pieces as her loved ones gathered to honor her memory.
“This is a horrible situation all the way,” said Antonia Griffin, Harris’ daughter. “You have a mother of six who’s no longer here, and a community heartbroken that this had to happen in the first place.”
“My mama was good. My mama was so good,” Griffin added, reflecting on her mother’s kindness.
The pain of losing their mother is almost too much for Jennifer’s children.
Griffin said, “It was times where I didn’t want to be here in America or here in this world. Now I don’t have my mama to keep me here.”
Harris’ mother, Hazel Johnson, expressed her heartbreak.
“Just thinking about what happened to her, it’s not really fair. We need her back, but we can’t have her back,” said Johnson.
“We’re so grateful. It’s a lot of people here to support my sister and her children. It’s really great and I know she’s grateful for that as well,” Griffin said.
The franchise owner of the McDonald’s location is assisting with funeral expenses, while Harris’s pastor, Dr. Tenisha Evans, has established a trust fund to care for the children.
“It is a trust that we established so that the children are taken care of. Their home, their food, everything that they need,” Dr. Evans said.
Meanwhile, Muhammad is pleading not guilty. Authorities say she was sent home by Harris but returned with a knife to carry out the stabbing.
The defense claims Muhammad was bullied by Harris.
“For that girl to say she was a bully, she was not a bully. She was never that,” Johnson said.
Family members warn the public about fake GoFundMe accounts.
The trust fund set up by the pastor is the only legitimate fundraiser benefiting the children.