As family and friends of a McDonald’s manager who was stabbed to death last week continue to mourn her loss, the fast-food eatery partially reopened for business on Sunday.

Jennifer Harris, 39, of Mount Clemens, was fatally attacked in a stabbing incident July 10 at the McDonald’s on Nine Mile Road and Schroeder Avenue in Eastpointe. A co-worker has been charged in her death.

On Sunday afternoon, Harris’ self-described church family said they were surprised when they showed up, expecting to see the restaurant still shut down. Food orders were being accepted from the venue’s two drive-thru lanes.

“We didn’t think they’d be open and they shouldn’t be,” Pastor Gregory Kirby of Strictly God’s Business Ministries of St. Clair Shores told The Macomb Daily.

Church members said they had intended to gather in the parking lot to pray for the six children — five girls and one boy — who the single mother left behind.

“Jen was a really good manager who was here for 15 years,” said Jeremiah Millikin, who had worked under Harris. “Why would you reopen after you all just had an incident up here. That’s just crazy to me.”

Restaurant workers declined to comment.

Afeni Badu Muhammad, 26, of Eastpointe, was arraigned on July 11 in 38th District Court on charges of first-degree premeditated murder and carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent. Authorities said she be sentenced to mandatory life in prison if she is found guilty of the murder charge.

Muhammad is accused of stabbing Harris as many as 15 times just before 8 a.m., according to Macomb County prosecutors.

Relatives launched a fundraising drive to help raise money to pay for the woman’s funeral expenses, with the remainder going to support her children.

As on Sunday evening, more than $11,900 was raised toward a $14,000 goal.

“SHE DIED TRYING TO PROVIDE FOR HER KIDS,” the family said in a narrative. “SHE WAS A GOOD PERSON TO EVERYBODY. HARRIS CHILDREN WOULD NEED HELP WITH EVERYTHING ANYTHING COUNTS. THEY NEED MONEY TO LAY HARRIS TO REST AND AFTER FINANCIALLY FOR HER KIDS THANK YOU ALL.”

Prosecutors said the two had a disagreement over Muhammad’s work performance and Harris sent the woman home. The suspect allegedly returned wearing a mask and entered through an employee entrance where she confronted Harris.

A customer at the drive-thru, who was lawfully carrying a concealed weapon, witnessed the incident and fired his gun in the air in an attempt to stop it, according to police and prosecutors. Muhammad fled to her vehicle, where the customer followed her and held her at gunpoint until Eastpointe police arrived and arrested her.

Muhammad’s bond was set at $25 million, cash or surety only. She is being held in the Macomb County Jail.

The defendant is scheduled to return to court at 1 p.m. July 23 for a probable cause conference before Judge Kathleen Galen.

Muhammad was convicted of stabbing another person in a similar case in Virginia, according to Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Sian Hengeveld .

Virginia circuit court records indicate she pleaded guilty in March 2022 to a charge of unlawful injury-stab/wound/cut without malicious intent. Muhammad received a suspended sentence of four years in prison and instead served one year of probation, according to the court records.

In a pair of Muhammad’s Instagram posts on July 8, she complained about being sent home from work. She went on to call the manager a “bully.”

“She needs to understand that just because she’s a mother and got children doesn’t mean that she can come in the store, disrespecting people, talking to them like everybody’s beneath her,” Muhammad, wearing a McDonald’s hat, said to the camera in one post. “She keeps sending me home early. It’s not funny. She’s playing games. … Somebody’s gonna have to do something about that.”

“I don’t snap on people,” she said. “I’m creating peace.”