Gunter was shot after she and her boyfriend stopped at a corner store to get a cold drink. While Gunter waited inside her car, her boyfriend went inside the store where he got into an argument with a woman he knows, 24-year-old Keyshlyne Patterson. Patterson allegedly followed him outside before shooting Gunter two times in the head and Gunter’s boyfriend in the arm and ear. The police were reportedly in the area and heard gunshots before rushing to the scene. Gunter was taken to Temple University Hospital where she underwent two emergency surgeries to remove part of her skull to reduce her brain swelling.

Gunter graduated from West Chester University in 2021, with a major in juvenile psychology and had been working for a non-profit in Philadelphia as a case worker for less than two weeks when she was shot, according to her mother, Heather Morris.

“Everyone that knows Jhayden will tell you she is the bubbly party girls whose smile is infectious every time she smiles”  Morris told ABC 6. “It makes you smile even of you’re in a bad mood. She’ll do anything for anyone.”

Police used surveillance footage to help identify Patterson, who the police say is considered armed and dangerous. Morris was thankful the police heard the shots and were able to get her daughter to the hospital as quick as they did.

“Thank God they got my daughter as quickly as they could to Temple Hospital, which probably saved her life,” Morris said. “It’s sickening to me. I can’t begin to describe, I don’t know if I’m going to get my daughter back and I don’t know in what shape she’ll be if I do get her back.”