Nancy Metayer Bowen was shot in an alleged domestic violence dispute months after her brother, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor, died

Nancy Metayer Bowen

Nancy Metayer Bowen.Credit : City of Coral Springs

The Vice Mayor of Coral Springs, Fla., was shot and killed in an alleged domestic violence incident—three months after her brother died by suicide.

Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen was killed on Wednesday, April 1, according to Florida Politics. Police believe she was shot and killed in an “apparent domestic violence incident,” according to the outlet. The late Vice Mayor’s husband, Stephen Bowen, is a suspect in her murder, and fled town to Plantation, Fla., where he was taken into police custody at an apartment complex.

Coral Springs Police told PEOPLE that Metayer Bowen’s death is under active investigation.

“We are heartbroken to share that Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer has died,” the Coral Springs Government Facebook page shared in a statement. “She was more than a public servant, she was a light in our community.”

The statement described Metayer-Bowen’s leadership as “grounded in compassion, strength, and an unwavering commitment to others.”

“Her impact on Coral Springs is immeasurable, and her loss leaves a void in our hearts,” the statement added. “We ask our community to keep her family, loved ones, and all who are grieving in your thoughts and prayers. In this difficult time, we stand together as one city. We will carry her light, even in this darkness.”

Metayer Bowen, 38, became the first Black woman elected to the Coral Springs Commission in 2020, per Florida Politics.

Former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris later tapped Metayer Bowen to serve as Florida’s Caribbean Vote Director during the 2024 presidential election, according to the outlet.

Florida District 23 Congressman Oliver Larkin shared a statement about Metayer Bowen’s death on X.

“I am devastated,” Larkin began the post. “I just spoke with Nancy at the Coral Springs Ramadan Iftar. She was one of our community’s very best public servants and just lost her brother Donovan to gun violence in December.”

Nancy Metayer Bowen

Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen.Nancy Metayer Bowen/Facebook

“This cannot go on. In Nancy’s name and everyone we have lost to this epidemic,” the post concluded.

Metayer Bowen’s death comes just months after the death of her younger brother, Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, who was a survivor of the deadly school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018.

Nancy Metayer Bowen

Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer Bowen, center, speaks as ACLU of Florida Executive Director Bacardi L. Jackson, right, and President, Broward County Black Chamber of Commerce Shaheewa Jarrett Gelin, Esq., left, listen during the “Out of Many, One Community: Combating Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric” panel discussion.D.A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty

Metayer Bowen wrote in a Facebook post at the time that Donovan died by suicide on Dec. 15, following a seven-year battle with schizophrenia.

Donovan, who was an IT professional, was a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., when a mass shooter opened fire, killing 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018.

“The loss of our family’s youngest child is a sorrow beyond words — one that will echo through our lives, forever,” his family wrote on a GoFundMe page following his death.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.