Alexis Quinn's Mother Recalls Heartbreaking Moment She Learned Daughter Was Killed In South Street Mass Shooting
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- We're learning more about the victims killed in the mass shooting on South Street over the weekend. Kristopher Minners was killed while celebrating his 22nd birthday with friends when a barrage of bullets started flying. The other victim from Saturday's shooting was 24-year-old Alexis Quinn.
Her mother, Lorraine, spoke to us to explain the pain she's going through since losing her only daughter and to remember the joy she brought to her life.
Late Saturday evening, Lorraine got a call no parent ever wishes to receive.
"I didn't believe it. I thought it was a joke when I got the phone call. But when I went to the hospital, by the time I went there they said they took her to the medical examiner's office. That was very emotional," Lorraine Quinn said.
Making this tragedy even worse, Lorraine has been confronted with watching the video of the moment her daughter was shot.
"I can't watch this. They keep showing when she's trying to run and fall in the middle of the street. I can't. As a mother, it's hard losing a child. I don't like when people say 'I know how you feel.' You don't know how I'm feeling until you lose a child," she said.
She has an image ingrained in her memory that no parent should have to face.
"When I went to the funeral home she just has a frown on her face like she died in pain," Lorraine said.
Understandably, she doesn't know how to deal with this pain.
"I haven't slept at all. I tried to take NyQuil, that doesn't work. I cry and cry and cry. Ever since then I've been crying. Every day I break down like I'll be in the middle of a conversation and I'll just break out," Lorraine said.
She says that she feels like a part of her is gone, but there is another side. There's a twinkle in her eye and a radiant smile when discussing the person Alexis was.
"You wouldn't think that we're mother and daughter because we act so silly together and play and joke. She'll make jokes, she'll call like 'Hey, old lady,'" Lorraine said.
Or Alexis calling her mom around 5 a.m. and waking her up.
Alexis was a home health aide. She loved helping others.
Her favorite TV show was "Friends," and her favorite meal to have mom cook was oxtail with baked mac and cheese and candied yams.
She is now another tragic victim of gun violence in America.
"I never thought in a million years that I'd have to be burying my daughter and she'd be caught in gun violence. Never, never thought that in a million years," Lorraine said.
Alexis' mother says this ordeal, which feels like a nightmare, won't be real to her until she sees her daughter in her casket. She adds that all she wants now is justice for her daughter, meaning that whoever shot is her caught and incarcerated.