Pregnant Mother Of 5 Killed On Dan Ryan Expressway
Updated 07/09/14 - 12:31 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After losing his first-born daughter and his youngest son to gun violence in less than a year, Pierre Curry said "I'm going to lose my mind."
"I buried one Curry last year, now I've got to bury another one?" he said.
Illinois State Police found 24-year-old Jasmine Sade Curry shot in the head inside her Dodge Caravan around 4 a.m. Wednesday, in the southbound local lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway, on the shoulder just south of 59th Street.
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Pierre Curry said his daughter is a mother of five -- three boys and two girls -- and he just learned this morning she was pregnant with her sixth child.
"I'm going to lose my mind. That's my first born; my first born. Man," he said. "She was sweet, a good daughter, a good auntie, a good mother. Always liked working; she always kept a job."
Pierre Curry said he went to the scene after learning about the shooting from Jasmine's uncle.
"He told me Sade had been shot, and about five minutes later her sister called and said, 'Daddy, Sade gone. They killed her,'" he said. "My son got murdered last year around here. Now she got murdered around here."
Pierre Curry said his daughter was getting ready to start a new job at Ford City Mall on Friday.
Illinois State Police Capt. Luis Gutierrez said two passengers in the minivan were unharmed, but one ran away before police arrived. Police believe someone in another vehicle shot Jasmine, but investigators could not provide a description of the second vehicle.
State troopers were working with Chicago police to check nearby police surveillance cameras in hopes of tracking down the shooter's vehicle, or the passenger who fled from the minivan.
Gutierrez said the shooting appears to be an isolated incident, but Pierre Curry said he's convinced it's related to his son's murder in August.
"I think she was targeted. I'll be honest, because her little brother was murdered last year around this area. In my heart, my gut, it was some crap; gang-banger crap. … I just know it," he said.
Pierre Curry's youngest son, 17-year-old Pierce Curry, was shot and killed last August, just a few blocks from where Jasmine was killed on Wednesday. Pierce Curry shot in the head while sitting in the backseat of a vehicle in the 6200 block of South State Street, when someone in another vehicle opened fire around 1:30 a.m. Aug. 27, 2013.
Gutierrez said anyone who witnessed Jasmine's shooting should call state police.
After Wednesday morning's shooting, all southbound traffic on the Dan Ryan was diverted into the express lanes at 47th Street while police gathered evidence at the crime scene near 59th Street. The local lanes remained closed between Garfield Boulevard and 59th Street for several hours, reopening around 12:20 p.m.
