Kristopher Sinclair pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as Copeland’s family packed a Charlotte courtroom and objected to the possibility of his eventual release.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Georgia man who tracked Brianye Copeland’s vehicle before fatally shooting her outside a Charlotte community resource center will spend at least 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Kristopher Anthony Sinclair, 40, was sentenced Sept. 8 to a term of 25 to 31 years.

The plea resolved the murder prosecution more than 18 months after Copeland, 27, was killed in the parking lot of the Ella B. Scarborough Community Resource Center. Sinclair had initially been charged with murder after his arrest on the day of the shooting. Prosecutors said the two had met while on vacation and remained in extensive contact afterward, but Sinclair’s attention toward Copeland escalated before the killing. Authorities said he placed a tracking device on her vehicle in the days before her death. The sentencing shifted the case from an active prosecution to a prison term, while leaving Copeland’s relatives to confront a punishment they said did not feel long enough.

Copeland’s relatives and friends filled the court proceeding with accounts of what her death had taken from them. WSOC-TV reported that 52 victim-impact statements were submitted, reflecting a circle of relatives and supporters that extended well beyond Charlotte. Her father, Brian Copeland, said some supporters drove 10 or 11 hours and others flew to North Carolina for the hearing. Outside the courthouse, family and friends wore purple as a show of support. Copeland’s mother, Tiffany Matthews, said the family wanted the court to understand the reach of the loss. The gathering put the focus not only on the sentence imposed on Sinclair but also on the life that ended in the parking lot on Feb. 7, 2025.

Matthews said the sentence did not give the family the sense of finality it wanted. She told WSOC-TV that relatives objected to a term that leaves open the possibility that Sinclair could one day leave prison. For the family, the length of the sentence was measured against a death that cannot be reversed and opportunities Copeland will never regain. The court’s judgment placed Sinclair in state custody for decades, but the proceeding also underscored the limits of a criminal sentence for survivors. His guilty plea meant there would be no murder trial requiring Copeland’s family to relive the evidence before a jury, yet the negotiated outcome also meant the family had to absorb a defined sentence rather than an open-ended trial result.

The crime began as an emergency call shortly before 10 a.m. on Feb. 7, 2025. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said officers were dispatched to the 400 block of Stitt Road for an assault with a deadly weapon with injury. They found Copeland in the parking lot with a gunshot wound, and MEDIC pronounced her dead at the scene. The resource center was temporarily closed as homicide detectives and crime-scene personnel worked in the area. Police identified Copeland publicly the next day and announced that Sinclair, then 38, had been arrested, interviewed by homicide detectives and transferred to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office. At that stage, investigators described the case as active and ongoing.

Investigators later reconstructed the confrontation using witnesses, surveillance footage and physical evidence. According to reporting based on the probable-cause affidavit, resource-center employees saw Sinclair and Copeland arguing in the parking lot and contacted security after the confrontation became physical. Witnesses told investigators that Sinclair was standing over Copeland and striking her before she was shot. Sinclair then left the area, according to the affidavit. Police tracked him to an apartment complex nearby, where witnesses said he had gone into a wooded area before returning toward his vehicle. Officers took him into custody that day, bringing the search for a suspect to an end only hours after the shooting.

The wooded area became an important part of the investigation. A police K-9 helped officers locate a backpack containing Sinclair’s driver license and a five-page handwritten note, according to court documents described by local news outlets. The note referred to Copeland and contained statements suggesting Sinclair expected police to find him after her death. Investigators also recovered the firearm linked to the killing from his vehicle, according to Law&Crime. Authorities found another communication that had been mailed to Copeland’s family with a flash drive. The available public reporting does not establish when all of those materials were prepared, and police did not publicly release their full contents.

Prosecutors also described a history of intense communication between Sinclair and Copeland. Law&Crime reported that the two exchanged about 15,000 text messages over nearly a year after meeting while on vacation. Sinclair lived in Mableton, Georgia, while Copeland was in the Charlotte area. Prosecutors said Sinclair became obsessed with her and installed a tracking device on her vehicle shortly before the homicide. Those details gave the sentencing hearing a broader context than the few minutes captured around the resource center: investigators said the shooting followed a period in which Sinclair was monitoring Copeland’s location. The criminal case ultimately ended with his admission to second-degree murder rather than a trial on the original murder charge.

Court findings reported after sentencing also showed that the judge considered circumstances beyond the fatal shot itself. Local reporting citing North Carolina court documents said Sinclair was found to have knowingly created a great risk of death to more than one person through the use of a weapon and to have taken advantage of a position of trust in a domestic relationship. The court also found that a person younger than 18 was in a position to see the crime. Sinclair received credit for 578 days spent in confinement before sentencing. His sentence carries a minimum term of 25 years and a maximum of 31 years under the judgment reported by local media.

For Copeland’s family, however, the court record tells only part of the story. Copeland grew up in Evansville, Indiana, and graduated from Harrison High School in 2015. She was an accomplished athlete who competed in basketball, soccer and track. Her obituary said she finished her high school basketball career with 1,179 points and was fifth on Harrison’s career scoring list while also becoming the school’s career leader in assists. She later played college basketball at Central State University in Ohio and earned a walk-on spot in track and field. After moving to the Charlotte area with her family, she continued playing basketball in the Queen City Pro-Am league while pursuing her education.

Copeland’s ambitions stretched well beyond sports. Her obituary said she earned an associate degree and was enrolled at UNC Charlotte to work toward a bachelor’s degree. She had started businesses, completed a real estate course and held North Carolina life and health insurance credentials. Family members described her as someone who regularly looked for ways to help others and mentor younger relatives. In interviews after her death, relatives repeatedly returned to her energy, generosity and ability to bring people together. Her cousin De’Ajala Harris described her to WSOC-TV as “graceful and elegant,” while her parents said they wanted the public to remember the full life she had built rather than allowing the circumstances of her death to define her.

That effort has continued beyond the criminal case. Copeland’s family established the BriWay Foundation to carry forward goals they said were important to her, including helping young people through scholarships and other assistance. The organization has also focused on awareness of violence against women and domestic violence. The idea grew from plans her parents discussed in the weeks after her death, when they said Copeland’s own mission was to help people and make them happy. What began as a memorial effort has become one way the family has tried to place her ambitions, rather than Sinclair’s crime, at the center of her legacy.

For Copeland’s relatives, the sentencing did not mark the end of the story so much as a change in where it will be carried. Sinclair will remain in prison under the 25-to-31-year sentence, while the family continues the BriWay Foundation and other efforts created in Copeland’s name. The courtroom established the punishment for her killing; her relatives are now focused on preserving the life, ambitions and relationships that existed long before the case reached a judge.

Author note: Last updated Oct. 20, 2026.