WILMINGTON, N.C. — A North Carolina woman who shot and killed her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend in broad daylight in a mall parking lot was sentenced to between 31 years and 40 years in prison.
Local media outlets report that 20-year-old Traneta Campbell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and discharging a weapon into an occupied property. Killed was 26-year-old Catherine Ruth Ballard, a hospital cafeteria worker.
The shooting happened April 1 after Ballard ran into her ex-boyfriend Darius Nelson, who was with Campbell, his new girlfriend, inside Independence Mall in Wilmington.
Nelson faces charges of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and felony obstruction of justice.
A confrontation that started inside the mall continued outside, where surveillance cameras captured the shooting. Ballard was struck once in the back of her head.