A grandmother was shot and killed while coming home from her job as a day care worker on Chicago's Far South Side Wednesday night, according to police.
Authorities said the shooting took place at around 10:26 p.m. in the 1000 block of East 133rd Street in the city's Altgeld Gardens neighborhood.
Kimberly Underwood, 53, was driving her car, pulling into a parking lot when someone nearby opened fire, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. She was shot in the face and pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
"For someone to take her away is so sad - nothing like this has ever happened to us," Underwood's sister Trina Hall said. "She was such a positive role model in our family."
Underwood's family said she was a beloved day care worker who leaves behind two daughters and a son that lived with her, as well as eleven grandchildren. Her family said she worked second shift, until 10 p.m., at a northwest Indiana day care, and that her car was about 10 feet from her parking spot when she was shot - just two weeks before her birthday.
"She was so excited because her birthday is coming up on the 22nd - she was so happy about her birthday coming up. And now? We’ll have to celebrate without her," her other sister Angela Underwood Green said.
"Can’t even say wrong place wrong time, because she’s doing what everybody does, coming home from work," victims' advocate Pastor Donovan Price said.
"All she does is care about kids, family members said, but she got caught in the middle of a crossfire and the individual took off from this location in a dark hoodie," added anti-violence activist Andrew Holmes.
No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, according to police, who did not release a description or details about any suspects as the investigation remains ongoing.
