Young Mother Slain On Her Son's 5th Birthday
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A young mother of two was shot and killed early Wednesday as she was walking to the store, less than a day after moving to the South Chicago neighborhood.
Police said the shooting happened shortly after midnight in the 8700 block of South Burley Avenue. Africa Bass, 23, was walking to the store when someone in a black SUV opened fire on a man who was walking in front of her, according to her family.
Bass was shot in the chest. Her family said she was able to squeeze the hands of loved ones at the scene, but her condition deteriorated quickly. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
"I didn't think she was going to die. I thought she was going to ride this one out. She's the strongest person I know besides my momma; the strongest person I know," said her sister, Jovanna Jones. "She had my auntie's hand in one hand and one of her neighbor's hands. She was squeezing me, and my auntie said 'If you can hear me, squeeze my hand,' and she kept squeezing her hand, and I thought my sister was going to make it."
Bass had just moved to the South Chicago neighborhood on Tuesday.
"We had a fire to our house. I just saved my daughter three days ago, and somebody took her today" said her mother, Sheila Jones.
Bass had two children; her son, Kv'ion STevens, who just turned 5 on Wednesday; and her daughter, 2-year-old Kiyah.
"I'm going to do what my daughter want me to do, would expect for me to do, and that's to raise her kids the way I raised mine. That's all I can do is love them more and more and more, and tell them how much their momma loved them," her mother said.
The man who was the target of the shooting also was wounded, but his condition was not available.
Police said early Wednesday morning that a possible suspect was in custody, but later said no one was in custody.