God, what a random and horrible way to die. :( RIP.
The vehicle was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Some of these had a shifter design that returned to a middle position when placed in park, so it isn’t obvious from looking at the shift lever whether it actually is in park. Vehicles with those shifters were recalled, but recalls never catch all affected vehicles.
I passed on buying a BMW because of the chintzy electronic shift lever that can flop into the wrong gear.