In the wake of the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, a mother of four and the cousin of Bulls' star Dwyane Wade, a community is in mourning as Chicago police announced the arrest of her alleged killers.
"I just brought out the teddy bears to represent, you know, the children, and their memories, and the love of their mom," said Linda Taylor, who lives near the scene of the shooting.
Taylor placed four stuffed animals, one for each of Aldridge's children including a newborn baby, on a nearby tree that turned into a makeshift memorial on Saturday.
Aldridge was gunned down as she pushed a child in a stroller Friday afternoon, walking in the 6300 block of South Calumet Ave in the Parkway Gardens neighborhood.
My cousin was killed today in Chicago. Another act of senseless gun violence. 4 kids lost their mom for NO REASON. Unreal. #EnoughIsEnough
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016
Two men approached another man nearby and opened fire, according to police. Aldridge was not the intended target, authorities said, but was struck in the arm and head and was taken to Stroger Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
"She loved God, loved her family," family spokesperson Pastor Edward Jones said Friday. "Just like everyone else, just wanted a better life, to live a better life. This is tragic because now it struck home with us. Something has to be done. This has got to stop."
Jones said Aldridge and her family had recently moved to the neighborhood, and she was on her way back from registering her children for school when she was shot.
"Who goes to register their children for school, and you don't come back home?" Taylor asked. "It's always the innocent people that get killed, you know, it's never the intended victims," she added.
These young kids are screaming for help!!! #EnoughIsEnough
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) August 27, 2016
"She wasn't bothering anybody, just going to register her kids in school — and bullets that fly around and have no name decided to find its way to her head," Aldridge's aunt and Dwyane Wade's mother Pastor Jolinda Wade said outside the hospital on Friday.
Dwyane Wade issued an impassioned plea for help in combating the city's violence following the shooting, tweeting, "The city of Chicago is hurting. We need more help& more hands on deck. Not for me and my family but for the future of our world. The YOUTH!"
A special prayer vigil is planned in Aldridge's honor at Pastor Jolinda Wade's New Creation Church in the city's West Pullman neighborhood on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.