A college student who was murdered at an East Harlem housing project in 2013, should have known the “risks” of being there, say city lawyers who don’t want to give her family a settlement.

In 2013, Olivia Brown was shot and killed by Michele “Mohawk” Graham after they got into an argument at the Lincoln Houses development, Gawker reports. Graham, who used to live in the building, was homeless at the time of the shooting.

Crystal Brown, Olivia’s mother, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city, claiming that her daughter’s death was due to a lack of security in the building. Lawyers for the New York City Housing Authority have argued otherwise, saying that the shooting was “spontaneous” and “unavoidable.” “All the risks, hazards and dangers were open, obvious and apparent to [Brown] and said risks, hazards and dangers were openly and voluntarily assumed by [Brown],” the lawyers wrote in a statement.

As Brown’s mother pointed out in an interview with the New York Post, the lawyers are essentially saying that Brown is responsible for her own murder. “Everybody has a right to be safe in their home,” she said. “Why wasn’t my daughter safe? Because we’re poor and living in public housing?”

Three days before Brown’s death, the top Democratic candidates in the 2013 mayoral election, which included eventual mayor Bill de Blasio, had spent a night at the Lincoln Houses as a campaign stunt.

Since the murder, two police towers and a number of cameras have been installed at the development. But, as Brown’s mother said in the interview, “Why didn’t they have the security in place to protect her when there’s been a history of violence here for 25 years?”

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