A young mother was killed in a drive-by shooting early Wednesday on Chicago’s South Side.
Africa Base, 23, was outside of her new apartment near 88th Street and Burley Avenue just after midnight when authorities say she was gunned down by a shooter in a black SUV.
Base’s mother, Sheila Jones, told NBC 5 that her daughter had just moved into a new apartment after their family home burned down in a fire Monday.
“She was not even there two hours,” Jones said.
Base, a mother of two, was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition before being pronounced dead hours later Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, her family is left shattered by grief.
"My baby’s gone, my house is gone.” Jones says, sobbing. “I’m not that strong. I can't handle this."
She leaves behind a 2-year-old daughter and a son, whose fifth birthday was Wednesday. A day that will now always be remembered as the day his mother was killed.
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The family gathered in mourning to hold each other up following another unthinkable loss; a string of tragedy in just three days.
“She was a working woman, she just worked and tried to take care of her kids,” said Base’s grandmother, Betty Davis. “That’s all she was trying to do.”
Chicago police say they are investigating if Base had any gang ties, but her family insists she was an innocent victim.
“They are just shooting to be shooting,” Davis said. “Shooting innocent people. And if black lives matter, it would matter to them!”
