Tonya Gunn was enjoying the holiday weekend at a family fish fry when she was fatally shot in front of her 11-year-old daughter and several other young children early Sunday morning.
Gunn was one of 11 people killed due to gunfire over the long weekend. A total of 67 were shot.
The victim's mother, Sandra Gunn, is still in shock over how their family fun came to a violent and sudden end.
"She was enjoying her family in the yard, that's all," Sandra Gunn said.
The 44-year-old mother was standing outside her car at about 12:30 a.m. on the 10900 block of South Throop Street when somebody started shooting from a passing car.
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"My daughter was running in saying, 'Momma, call the police, they shot Tonya,'" Gunn said. "My niece's twins boys were out there. She had to throw them onto the ground, you know, and lay on top of them."
Tonya Gunn was shot just feet away from her 11-year-old daughter and other young children. Other cars on the block and homes are riddled with bullets.
"What can we do? We can't do anything, we can't be in our yards, we can't be in our homes we can't go to the park, what can be done about this?" Sandra Gunn said.
Along with the tears, there also anger at the senseless loss of a beloved mother, sister, aunt and friend.
"The police is not working. They need to call out the National Guard. This is becoming too many tragedies hitting close to home for too many families," Sandra Gunn said.
Chicago police Supt. Garry McCarthy told reporters Monday that despite a surge of officers placed in strategic spots throughout the city, efforts to keep Independence Day weekend violence down weren't as successful as hoped.
