29-year-old mother of 6 fatally shot after celebrating birthday in South Shore, family says

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A woman died after police said she was found shot on the city's South Side on Sunday morning.

The woman, 29, was found with a gunshot wound to the chest in the 1800 block of East 79th Street at about 5:23 a.m., Chicago police said.

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Police said the woman was unresponsive when they arrived to the scene. She was rushed to University of Chicago Hospital where she died.

Relatives told ABC7 the victim, Jamia Taylor, was out celebrating her birthday, which was this past Thursday, when she was shot and killed on the south side. She leaves behind six children, the youngest less than a year old.

For the family of Taylor, her death just doesn't seem real.

"No, it still feel like a dream," said Tomanita Whitehorn, the victim's mother. "All of it seem like it's a dream. Everything."

Whitehorn is left devastated after losing her oldest child, just three days after she turned 29.

"She was wonderful person, kept a smile on her face," Whitehorn said. "Good parent. Everything, everything about her was good."

Police said Taylor was shot in the chest and left to die on the cold pavement.

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Why her life was taken is a mystery to her mother.

"Pretty, smart, intelligent," Whitehorn said. "She looked out for everybody. Whenever anybody needed something, she helped them out, so why would they do this to my baby. I just don't understand."

Relatives said Taylor worked two jobs, one in retail and the other as a security guard. She had a large social media following under the name "Mya Da Baddie." She was the mother of six children, ranging in age from 11 months to 12 years old.

"And it's devastating. What my grand babies gonna do?" Whitehorn said. "They don't understand what's really going on, and it's going to be hard that they mom is not here.

CPD Area Four detectives are investigating Taylor's death as a homicide and said no one is in custody.

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