Oakland resident Nia Wilson was fatally stabbed last week in an attack at a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station in Oakland, Calif.

Wilson, 18, was traveling with her sister Malika Harris after a family gathering to spend time with her aunt who has Stage 4 cancer.

Details are still being released about his life and the motive behind the brutal murder, which has been described as a “prison-style attack” according to investigators.

In a nearly 24-hour manhunt in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cowell was eventually arrested at an Antioch-bound BART train and charged with murder and attempted murder. He made his first appearance in court on Wednesday afternoon and did not enter a plea.

The family of Cowell issued a statement offering their deepest sympathies. It described Cowell and in and out of jail and had been struggling with mental illness most of his life. Diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, he seemed to have been unable to get proper treatment for his conditions.

The death of the 18-year-old sparked outrage across the country as activists suggest racial inequalities that seem to allow impunity for white people who commit crimes in comparison to people of color.

Public outrage, as well as a host of celebrity posts online, believe the crime to have been racially-motivated. Actress Anne Hathaway called out white privilege in her post as being the silencer when it comes to white-on-black crimes.

“White people-including me, including you- must take into the marrow of our privileged bones the truth that ALL black people fear for their lives DAILY in American and have done so for GENERATIONS. White people DO NOT have equivalence for this fear of violence.”

Nia had recently been on a job interview and wanted to keep it secret from her family. Though she was an outgoing and loving teen, her life had been fraught with tragedy. Later this month, Nia was planning to attend a birthday party in celebration of her high school boyfriend who died in May 2016.

At the vigil for her boyfriend who passed, someone fired a gun into the crowd. Nia stayed with a bystander who was hit in the neck until paramedics arrived. Her sister Ms. Harris, said of Nia, “Any way she could help she would be there for you.”