"I felt like she was standing at a crossroads": Helen Shaver on Tara Correa-McMullen after her 2005 death

Tara Correa-McMullen was a 16-year-old budding star in 2005 who had starred in Steve Carr's 2005 film Rebound as well as secured a recurring role in Judging Amy. However, she faced an untimely death after she was shot five times in the torso by a gang member Damien Watts in October 2005. The teen was dating a gang member who was ten years older than her at the time of her death.

It is worth noting that Tara Correa-McMullen's character in Judging Amy seemed to have an eerie resemblance to her real life. This was because Tara's character, Graciela Reyes was a gang member, whom the protagonist Amy Gray tried to counsel. However, Reyes loses her life in a gang retaliation in prison, which was how Tara also passed away on October 21, 2005. The teen was caught in the middle of a gang shooting.

Judging Amy's director Helen Shaver spoke to NBC News about Tara's death and stated:

"I felt like she was standing at a crossroads."

Investigation Discovery's Death by Fame released an episode on Tara Correa-McMullen's story titled A Rising Star Shot Down on January 22, 2024. The episode, which aired at 9 pm ET, showcased the crossroads of fame and violence that Tara Correa-McMullen stood at.

"Tara Correa-McMullen is only 15 when she rises from the tough streets of LA to star alongside some of Hollywood’s biggest stars; a romance with the wrong person takes her out of the spotlight forever." The synopsis of the episode read.

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Tara Correa-McMullen had been on her way to fame with Rebound and Judging Amy

Tara Correa-McMullen grew up on the East Coast with her elder sister Abigail after which her family first moved to North California in 1996. They then moved to Venice, a small Los Angeles neighborhood. Initially, they lived in inexpensive hotels while Tara's mother Mary Devra Correa took up a job at a casting agency.

It is through her mother Devra Correa that Tara landed a role in Steve Carr's Rebound alongside Martin Lawrence. Devra spoke to NBC News about the role and how Tara got it.

"They needed a girl that could play basketball but she was also, heavier than the other girls. And, she could be kind of a rough and tumble tomboy. But she also had this vulnerable heart that you could see on camera." Devra said.

She added that the more she thought about it, she realized that her daughter could do that. Devra noted that when the producer saw Tara, the latter said, "That's my girl."

Right after, Tara's family moved to their new home in Los Angeles and subsequently, she was signed up by an agency. The new neighborhood was under the control of gangs and the environment allegedly had started taking effect on Tara.

McMullen also landed the role of Graciela Reyes, a gang member involved in a drive-by shooting. At the same time, she began seeing a gang member who was ten years older than her and with a prison record. Meanwhile, her role on the primetime Emmy-nominated TV show Judging Amy was expanded as well.

"If everything I saw from her was acting, was pretend, she’d get an Academy Award. She’s a brilliant actress." Shaver noted.

Cindy Osbrink, Tara's agency head, spoke to the Los Angeles Times and said that it was "life as art."

She claimed that Tara was becoming unreliable as a client, noting that they had to have her picked up and dropped to the sets to ensure that she stayed on set throughout her schedule. Tara Correa-McMullen was dropped after her role in the sixth season of Judging Amy.

Helen Shaver pressured Tara to continue acting by writing more episodes for her but Tara's reaction allegedly shocked her.

"This young woman sat there in a group of adults, and she said, absolutely clear, 'I can’t promise that. Because I don’t know. I might be dead'.” Helen told NBC News.

While Amy Brenneman thought of Tara as someone with "natural charisma" and "a little bit of Queen Latifah in her", she expressed her lack of surprise at her death.

"I just thought, “Oh, they got her. They got her.” You know, this is the normal course of events that she would die this way." She noted.

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Damien Watts was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without parole in January 2009 for the 2005 murder of Tara Correa-McMullen.