Family of woman killed in officer-involved-shooting says she had troubled past

WEST MEMPHIS, AR (WMC) - Two families are coming to terms with the deaths of their loved ones hundreds of miles from home.

WMC5 investigators are learning more about the man and woman killed in a police shooting last week.

A disturbing picture is emerging of the couple shot and killed by West Memphis police.

Their families described the troubles and the torture they have gone through since the shooting.

"It didn't hit me but when it did hit me it hit me hard,” said sister Gloria Campos.

Campos said the family only recently found out her sister Megan Rivera was the woman killed in West Memphis when police shot at the car she was driving with her boyfriend in the passenger seat, 30-year-old DeAngelo Brown.

Campos says her 22-year-old sister didn't have her ID, so it took a few days to notify the family.

She said her sister had problems for much of her life. "When she was six years old her dad died of a drug overdose,” Campos said. “He almost took out the whole family. He went into a rage and we were almost all gone that night."

Campos said Megan had been dating Brown for about three years. They met in their hometown of Lancaster, South Carolina.

She also said her sister had big problems with drugs.

“I know she was doing a lot of things here and she really has been trying the past year,” Campos said. “She’s been trying to get away from her triggers.”

Sources said the couple was driving a car that was carjacked out of South Carolina.

West Memphis police say when they tried to stop the car, the driver rammed several police cars and ran over an officer's leg.

That's when West Memphis police opened fire, killing them both.

The family believes the couple got lost and that's why they were in West Memphis, but they didn't know exactly where they had been.

"She was out to venture,” said brother Kevin Rivera. “She was out to see the world."

Campos said her sister was in touch with her mother just before encountering West Memphis police.

"An hour before it all happened, she was texting with my Mom,” Campos said.

Her family wishes she had gotten some help.

“People are lost,” Campos said. “She was lost.”

Arkansas State Police are investigating the shooting.

Six West Memphis police officers were relieved of duty after the shooting.

WMC5 has been in contact with police in South Carolina who were unaware of the shooting in West Memphis.

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