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Meleia Willis-Starbuck always stood up for herself and loved ones, her friends said. 

Whether she disagreed with someone in her classes at Berkeley High or Dartmouth, or happened upon someone mistreating her mildly-autistic half-brother Jack, Willis-Starbuck, 19, was never afraid to speak her mind or try to change other people’s way of thinking. 

So when a group of young men early Sunday morning “disrespected” Willis-Starbuck and her friends, they weren’t surprised to learn that she took the time to explain to them how to respectfully talk to women. 

But as Willis-Starbuck was ending her conversation with the five men in front of her apartment near the intersection of College Avenue and Haste Street, a gunman opened fire on the group. One bullet struck Willis-Starbuck in the chest. She was the only person hit and stopped breathing before an ambulance arrived. It was the second homicide in Berkeley this year. 

Police have not determined if the murder was random or somehow connected to the argument between the groups of young men and women, said Berkeley Police Officer Joe Okies. The gunman, believed to be a male in his 20’s, remains at large. 

“We’re just numb right now,” said John Starbuck, Meleia’s step-father from the family’s home in Atlanta. “Right now we’re trying to figure out a way to use all the goodwill and energy she put in the world for all our betterment.” 

Outside the College Avenue apartment Willis-Starbuck was renting for the summer, loved ones continued to mourn at a makeshift shrine. They recalled a loyal friend, who they all believed would one day make her mark on the world. 

“She wasn’t a person who lived for herself,” said Mercedes Hong, 20. “Everything she did was to help others. “She was my only friend I thought could really change the world.” 

In high school, Willis-Starbuck worked as a peer advocate teaching sex education to fellow-students. She was the president of the Black Student Union and as a member of the school’s Communication’s Arts and Sciences Program, she traveled to Cuba and Vietnam. 

At Dartmouth where she was majoring in sociology and African American studies, she was president of the Black Student Union her sophomore year. She returned to Berkeley this summer to work as an intern in the women’s Daytime Drop-In Center, a program for homeless women. 

For her friends though, she was more than a fighter for social justice, she was someone they could both laugh with and trust to speak from the heart. 

“She loved people and was always down for anything fun,” said Tara Singh, who recalled the two of them hopping on a motorcycle during the Cuba trip. “Her cell phone was always ringing.” 

“If you ever needed to talk to someone you called her. She was a really good listener,” said Perry Kramer. 

When Hong found out last year she had unexpectedly become pregnant, she called Willis-Starbuck first. “She told me I’ll always be there for you and your child will be my child,” Hong said.  

Willis-Starbuck also wasn’t shy about sharing her own fears. Hong said she adjusted slowly to Dartmouth, where she had a full scholarship, and sometimes said she felt alienated at the school where there were so few minorities or students from working class backgrounds. 

“I think she thought, I’m going to go there and be myself and show everyone there what needs to be done in the world, but it wasn’t always easy,” she said. 

The Starbuck’s moved from Berkeley to Georgia last year. Meleia’s mother Kimberly Willis-Starbuck had worked worked many years in Berkeley’s City Manager’s office. 

Starbuck said he and Kimberly had urged her to stay at school for summer classes, but his step-daughter insisted on returning to Berkeley. “She was so happy to be back,” he said.  

“She was a catalyst for a lot of the best discussions that ever occurred in my classroom,” said Bill Pratt, one of her history teachers at Berkeley High. “She was fearlessly willing to challenge people, but she was also conciliatory and understood how to mediate conflict,” he said. 

Willis-Starbuck wasn’t much different at home, her stepfather said. “She had a mouth. She would come out with opinions and I would try to poke holes in what she said. She was my political child.” 

She could be very honest with you without ever being offensive,” said Molly Dutton-Starbuck, Meleia’s half sister. “No matter what she always could make me laugh at myself.” 

“I had so much respect for her because she never took shit,” Singh said. “That’s why she was telling those guys not to talk to girls that way.” 

Willis-Starbuck was spending last Saturday night with friends, when they decided to stop at her apartment for a bathroom break before heading off to another friend’s house, according to Dana Johnson, 20, who was with Willis-Starbuck when she was murdered. As the girls approached Willis-Starbuck’s apartment, a group of five young men “acted disrespectfully” towards them and an argument ensued. 

Willis-Starbuck went inside during part of the dispute, according to her step-father, but then returned and resumed talking to them, while the people she was with were getting inside Johnson’s car. 

“Then someone came out of nowhere and fired shots,” Johnson said. The five young men raced from the scene, Johnson recalled, and one friend tried to administer CPR to no avail. Johnson said the gunman shot from the parking lot at corner of College and Dwight, while they were standing on College closer to Haste Street. Okies confirmed that the shots came from “some distance”. The gunman, he said, fled by car heading east on Dwight. 

Johnson questioned the response time of Berkeley Police and Fire. She said the girls managed to flag down a passing police car, but that other police units and fire-fighter paramedics were late to the scene. 

According to dispatch reports the first 911 call reporting the shooting came in just after 1:47 a.m. A minute later officers were dispatched to the scene, Okies said. The first officers arrived within a minute, according to Okies. 

Deputy Fire Chief David Orth said and a fire engine company and ambulance both arrived at 1:54 a.m., five minutes after they were notified of the shooting. The fire department’s goal is to arrive on the scene of an emergency within six minutes after the call comes in. 

A memorial for Willis-Starbuck is being planned for 11 a.m. Friday at Berkeley High School.  

Starbuck said the family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy from his step-daughter’s friends in Berkeley. “My wife has been on the phone all day today,” he said. “What we’re finding out is just how many people had bonds with her.” 

Hong, who had planned to make Willis-Starbuck the godmother of her daughter expected to be born around the end of the month, now intends to honor her friend the best way she can. “We haven’t quite figured it out yet, but Meleia is going to be part of the name.” 

Among other relatives, Willis-Starbuck is survived by her mother Kimberly, step-father John, step-sister Molly, step-brother Jack and half-brother Zachary. 

A memorial scholarship account has been set up in Meleia's name for Berkeley High graduates who wish to pursue work in social justice. Those interested in contributing should send checks to The Mechanics Bank at 2301 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, 94704. Checks should be made payable to 'The Meleia Willis-Starbuck Memorial Fund.'"