She wanted to break up with her boyfriend. He killed her as she tried to run away, Montgomery County prosecutors say.

Alyssa Wiest was secure in her life and clear in her goals, her family said. She knew what she wanted, they said, and nothing was going to deter her.

So when she decided Sunday that, after nine months, she wanted to end her relationship with Michael Dutkiewicz, she packed his suitcase full of his clothes and told him to move out of her home on Moorehead Avenue in West Conshohocken.

Her older brother, Kurt, said it was completely in character for her: She “wore the pants” in that relationship.

But Dutkiewicz, 26, wasn’t ready to let Wiest go, and police say he shot her multiple times with her own gun as she tried to run from him. Two of those shots, investigators said, came as Wiest was lying on the ground outside her house.

Dutkiewicz, of Warminster, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the slaying and remains in custody, denied bail. His attorney, Kathryn Coviello Cacciamani, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wiest’s family is awash in grief and frustration, heartbroken that a life so full of promise ended this abruptly.

“She didn’t deserve to go like this. She never hurt a soul and never wanted to,” Kurt Wiest Jr. said of his sister in an interview Tuesday. “She was full of life, and had so many dreams and aspirations she wanted to achieve.”

Even at 25, Wiest had accomplished plenty. After graduating from the University of Delaware, the Perkasie native landed a job at GSK as a microbiologist, working toward her goal of improving the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals and making them more affordable.

She was an avid traveler, her family said, and had visited Europe and South America several times as she sought to experience different cultures. Wiest had recently taken up painting and had created beautiful landscapes, portraits, and other works that she gave as anniversary and birthday gifts for her loved ones.

“Her bright spirit, boundless kindness, and the incredible promise she held for the future made her a beacon of hope and joy for all who knew her,” Wiest’s family said in a statement.

Her brother said she had met Dutkiewicz through mutual friends. And while her family said there were no signs of domestic abuse before the fatal shooting, they felt uneasy about Dutkiewicz because of his “hard partying” lifestyle, according to her brother.

He had been kicked out of bars for unruly or drunken behavior, Wiest’s brother said, and he spent time drag racing. Court records show he has convictions for minor offenses, including disorderly conduct and trespassing.

“He knew she was out of his league, and I think as soon as he realized she was pushing him away, he couldn’t cope with leaving one of the best things to happen to him,” Kurt Wiest said.

Neighbors told police that they heard a scream from Wiest’s home on Sunday, followed by a series of gunshots, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Dutkiewicz‘s arrest. Witnesses said they saw him walk outside the home and look around quickly before getting into his Ford pickup truck and driving away.

Inside Wiest’s home, police found evidence that a Ruger .38-caliber handgun registered to her had been fired multiple times. And, given the location and trajectory of the gunfire, the affidavit said, it was clear that the shooter had followed Wiest as she ran downstairs from a second-floor bedroom and out of her home.

As detectives looked for Dutkiewicz in the hours after the shooting, his mother contacted police and said he would turn himself in, the affidavit said.

He arrived hours later at the West Conshohocken Police Department and brought the suspected murder weapon with him.

Dutkiewicz is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on murder and related charges on May 29.