- Shirley Bryant, 63, died 3 weeks after being attacked outside a church in Detroit
- The grandmother was raped and badly beaten only one day before her birthday
- Investigators have also said that they do not believe the attack was random
A 63-year-old grandmother has died 22 days after being raped and beaten outside a church in Detroit.
Shirley Bryant’s family have expressed their grief as she passed away on December 6, after being brutally attacked on November 14, just a day before her birthday.
Speaking with Fox 2 News her son Diwann Bryant said: ‘These monsters just took my mom away from me…for no reason.
Shirley Bryant, 63, has died 22 days after being raped and beaten outside an empty church in Detroit
‘I know you’ve got a mother. I know you’ve got sisters and brothers. And you hit my mama like that? It’s terrible.’
Bryant’s sister Diana Edgar added: ‘I promised her before she closed her eyes for good that I would do everything in my power to see that justice was taken.’
In a GoFundMe page set up to help raise money for her final send-off, Bryant’s family said: ‘Shirley Ray Bryant – a mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin and friend.
‘Life was taken from her in a way that you would never imagine on the day Shirley turned 63 years old.
‘While trying to celebrate and enjoy another birthday on November 15th she came across a monster disguised as a human being that sexually assaulted, beat, dragged and left her partially unclothed in 30° weather in the middle of the night on a dark corner all alone fighting for her life.
‘This tragedy has nearly destroyed our family in ways that’s unimaginable.’
Bryant was calling for help when she was found by a person walking nearby. She was suffering from hypothermia and brain trauma and was partially naked.
Last month police charged Elvin Shepard, 44, with assault with intent to murder in relation to the attack. 
Elvin Bryant, 44, was last month charged with assault with intent to murder in relation to Bryant’s attack
Police told Fox 2 News that Shepard’s charges may be upgraded to murder and Police Chief James White doesn’t think the attack was random.
Another man was also held in custody, but not with charges related to the assault. However White said he was with Shepard at the time of it.
Last month he told the news channel: ‘We’ve got enough evidence and some facts and circumstances that I will not go into right now, but she was not randomly targeted, there was conversation prior to the incident.
‘And both were present during the entire incident.’
Originally published in Daily Mail, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10308613/Grandmother-63-raped-beaten-dies-days-22-later.html?ito=push-notification&ci=q_4oaHdSRW&cri=-QtWO5ZZ2p&si=t2hQwfBGcfK9&xi=9f42082e-1c51-46b2-85e1-ffe769ddf76e&ai=10308613
