‘I can just picture her smile now’: Community mourns 2 mothers killed in shooting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - Authorities said two women were killed in a shooting near the University of Louisville’s Belknap campus.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office identified the victims as Iyanna Warr and Trinity Durham, both 20.

The shooting happened at 1:44 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, at Family Scholar House in the 400 block of Reg Smith Circle. Campus police and Louisville Metro Police found the women when they arrived.

Family Scholar House is a nonprofit that provides housing and education support to student parents working to overcome poverty, unstable housing and domestic violence.

Tyria Cowan, a friend and former mentor of Warr, remembered her positive spirit.

“She was a very bubbly student, very charismatic. She liked to smile, she liked to laugh,” Cowan said. “She will always love her son; everything was about her son.”

Cowan and Warr remained friends even after graduation. Cowan worked with Warr through the House of W.O.M.B Foundation, a nonprofit that serves women and children in crisis.

Cowan helped Warr refine her resume to get into the Family Scholar House program. Warr planned to start classes this semester to pursue a forensic science degree.

Trinity Durham was also in the program and planned to go into geriatric care.

However, now their classroom seats will be empty, and their children will be without their mothers.

“Their children are gonna miss them deeply. They’re all they got,” Cowan said. “Iyanna, she always had her son; her son is her everything, Trinity as well. I’m just so saddened.”

So far, the circumstances of the shooting are unclear. Cowan points to security concerns at the complex.

“I never had to put a code to her gate; the gate was never locked, never closed,” Cowan said. “I do feel like they should have more security, more measures, to help these women feel safe.”

Several residents at the complex also voiced those concerns.

The CEO of Family, which is the parent company of the Family Scholar House, Cathe Dykstra, said a request to the property management company, Beacon Properties, to fix the gate was filed in February of this year.

“We want that gate closed,” she said. “The challenge has been finding parts for an 18-year-old gate.”

Dykstra said cameras around the complex may provide information to investigators.

Police have not announced any arrests in the case.

“She will truly be missed,” Cowan said of Warr. “She was a great mom - everything about Iyanna. I can just picture her smile now.”