Chicago Violence

Takiya Holmes' Family Donates Slain 11-Year-Old's Organs

When 11-year-old Takiya Holmes died after being struck in the head by a stray bullet, her family chose to save the lives of others by donating the young girl's organs. 

One of the recipients was a relative, Darvece Monson, who spoke of her gratitude Sunday following a successful kidney transplant. [[414206473, C]]

"For the family to have thought of me during this time, selflessly on this degree and a level of this magnitude, this generosity, I just can’t – I’m still processing it all," Monson said at a news conference Sunday.

"This family saved many lives, and left a legacy," Munson added through tears. 

Takiya passed away Tuesday morning, three days after she was shot in Chicago's Parkway Gardens neighborhood on the city's South Side. 

She was sitting in the backseat of her family’s minivan with her mother, aunt and 3-year-old brother when the shooting occurred. They were parked outside her mother's work, waiting for a co-worker, when they suddenly heard gunfire.

"Shots rang out, she told everybody to get down, and once they stopped, she asked was everybody OK and Takiya did not respond," her grandmother Patsy Holmes said. [[413650323, C]]

Takiya was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she was placed on life support. Just weeks before she was shot, her cousin Rachel Williams said she had expressed concerns about Chicago’s violence after someone in their neighborhood was killed in a shooting. 

“I talked to her two days after, and for her to sit there and say she was scared of getting shot,” Williams said. 

Patsy Holmes said family, friends, Takiya's youth group and even the principal of Schmid Elementary School, where she was a student, came to visit the granddaughter she described as courteous, thoughtful and lively.

Antwan Jones, 19, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting after turning himself in late Tuesday evening, according to police. 

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