Sara Bean and her fiancé Lance Johnson were planning a nice lunch together a few blocks from her South Loop home in Chicago Thursday afternoon when an unimaginable freak accident cut the 34-year-old mother of two’s life short.

According to the Chicago Tribune, a piece of decorative metal came loose from the outside wall of Second Presbyterian Church on Michigan Ave which then knocked off a chunk of stone from a gargoyle on the church’s southeast tower. A gust of wind caused the falling stone to hit Bean in the head, killing her nearly instantly, bystanders and officials stated.

“I saw that crack on her head and thought, ‘She’s definitely dead,'” said Broderick Adams, who watched from his fifth-floor apartment across the street before coming outside to help.

According to Adams, Bean’s fiancé, Lance Johnson, fell by her side, screaming and holding his hands to his head, but there was nothing he could do. Bean was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where family members gathered as she was pronounced dead.

What appears to be a freak accident will likely turn into a lawsuit as its been discovered that Second Presbyterian Church has a recorded history of being unsafe. The church, built in 1874, failed a series of inspections between 2007 and 2011 for violations, including failing to remove obstruction from building exits and failing to maintain an interior stairway system in safe condition, according to the city’s Buildings Department. A citation record from February 2010 obtained by the Chicago Tribune noted, all of the building’s outside walls had “fractures, washed out mortar at various locations, spalling (flaking) stone at various locations at (north, south, east and west) tower elevations.” And in 2011, the city went to court seeking fines for code violations that included failing to maintain exterior walls from holes or other conditions that might admit rain or dampness. Buildings Department spokeswoman Mimi Simon said the case was dismissed in court after it was determined that the church had come into compliance. The building reportedly passed inspections in 2012 and 2013, but this incident doesn’t bode well for its 2014 inspection.

Meanwhile, Bean’s family is trying to make sense of their loved one’s tragic passing. Willis, Bean’s brother, noted “She was finally going to get married,” saying after years of being together and raising their sons — a fourth-grader and a high school freshman – Bean and Johnson had decided to marry only a few months ago. Sadly, they’ll never be able to see those plans through.

We’re sending prayers to the family during this sad time.