A family is seeking answers after their loved one, Kia Tidwell, a 42-year-old mother of six, was killed by a stray bullet while she was driving in Gary, Indiana, Friday night.
No arrests have been made since Tidwell was struck in the head while passing a McDonald’s on the way to her home in Portage. According to ABC7 Chicago, the woman’s family joined elected officials on Monday to demand justice as police continue to investigate what the city of Gary stated as “the tragic death of Ms. Kia Tidwell, mother of six, who was caught unexpectedly in gunfire near the Grant Street and 5th Avenue in Gary on Friday, September 6th.”
“This is a call to action for the community to step forth to figure out what can we do collectively as a community so we can prevent this from happening again,” said Gary Mayor Eddie Melton. “We stand right with them, with stand by them. This is not just their loss. It’s the city of Gary’s loss.”
The Gary Police Department and the Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force are reviewing details from the incident ABC7 Chicago reported; it happened after Gary police were already dispatched to a McDonald’s on Friday near West 5th Avenue and Lincoln Street due to an altercation between a group of young people who fled the scene. After shots were fired from the northeast side of the building, police discovered Kia inside her vehicle with a gunshot wound to her head.
Her eldest daughter, Islynn Tidwell,
who was on the phone with her mother at the time of the shooting, stated, “I just heard people shooting, and she cried, ‘Oh, Jesus!’ And that’s when I heard her car skirt off, and she crashed into the tree right there, and the phone call ended.”Kia’s mother, Charlotte Tidwell, shared that her daughter, whose youngest child is barely five years old, had just left her house to go home and cook for her children. The victim is also the grandmother of a
two-year-old. “[We’re] going to take it further,” Charlotte said. “We’re going to take it as far as we can. It don’t stop here. We can’t allow it to stop here.”A GoFundMe set up for her family has raised over $16,000 to date. Police urge witnesses to respond with any details on the incident by calling 219-755-3855 or leaving an anonymous tip at 219-207-8477.