Mother of 6 driving home to cook for kids is shot and killed in crossfire, family says
.png "A mother of six was killed when she was hit by a stray bullet while driving in Gary, Indiana.")
An Indiana family is pleading for answers after a mother of six was shot and killed by a stray bullet while driving.
“My daughter had just left my house. On her way Friday, she stopped by. She said she was going home to cook for her other children,” Charlotte Tidwell said at a Sept. 9 news conference streamed by WLS.
Around 8 p.m. Sept. 6, police were called to a McDonald’s in Gary for a disturbance, Gary Police Chief Derrick Cannon said. When officers arrived, they noticed several people across the street, then shots were fired.
Kia Tidwell, 42, was driving by the McDonald’s at the time of the shooting and was struck by a stray bullet, Cannon said. Tidwell then went off the roadway and hit a tree.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
“She was a beautiful person. Every time you saw Kia she had a smile on her face,” her cousin, Lanita Tidwell, told WGN. “She was a hard worker and took care of her children. She was jazzy — she was going to be dressed nice and would do anything for you.”
LaSonnye McNeil, Tidwell’s aunt, said her niece was a loving and devoted mother.
“Kia was a mother of six children. She wasn’t just a mother, she was an awesome mother. She went to every basketball game, every baseball game, practices, no sleep, one job to the next,” she said at the news conference.
No arrests have been made in the case, but officials said the investigation is ongoing. Now, police and Tidwell’s family are calling on the community for help.
“There were multiple people there that witnessed this incident, and we are asking the public to respond,” Cannon said.
This story was originally published September 9, 2024 at 4:13 PM with the headline "Mother of 6 driving home to cook for kids is shot and killed in crossfire, family says."
