“My daughter Tyesa was sixteen when she was killed by a stray bullet as she was coming out of the movies theater. Tyesa was doing what good kids does, she went to the movies with her friends. As she was leaving the movie theater a 14 year old boy with an illegal gun started firing into the crowd. He was trying to hit a rival gang member but missed and the bullet hit my Tyesa in the head killing her. She was my firstborn. She was an amazing role model for her two younger sisters. She always wanted to help everyone and make others feel loved. She was well liked at school and an All-American student. Tyesa won numerous ribbons and certified for track, choir, history, trivia, debate team just to name a few… in her spare time, she liked writing poetry. She had become an excellent cook. I must say she had some tough critics and big shoes to fill. At 14, she had become a gourmet cook. During her senior year of high school, Tyesa decided she wanted to be a nurse and enrolled in college to begin her courses the following fall. Her infectious smile and caring spirit will never be forgotten.

When Tyesa was killed, I was pregnant with my youngest son. Twenty years after gun violence took my daughter, it took my son Tyler. Tyler was the youngest of my four children. My son, my baby boy. I called him “My Sunshine.” On a winter day just three days before Christmas of 2012, Tyler was brutally beaten and shot in front of our home. He was twenty years old, and his murder is still unsolved.

Tyler was a unique individual who possessed many gifts and talents. One of his gifts was his passion for music that he inherited from his great grandfather, who wrote songs for Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and many others. Tyler took piano and trumpet lessons, in which he excelled. Tyler wrote his own lyrics and would then go to the studio and lay down his owen tracks. He would not miss an opportunity to perform and share his technique. As a youth, Tyler enjoyed playing all sports. He participated in little league, softball, football. karate, soccer and basketball. He was enrolled at South Suburban College majoring in Occupational Therapy. He also was working at Walmart. Due to his strong work ethic, he was promoted to full time in less than three months. Tyler was loving, full of life, and a great uncle to his niece and nephew. Because Tyler’s father was absent in his life, he understood the importance of his nephew needing a positive male figure and Tyler took pride in being a role model for his nephew. His charming smile, humor, love, kindheartedness, patience and his lust for life is unforgettable by all who knew him.

Since Tyesa and Tyler’s murder, I have become committed to doing everything I can to stop gun violence. I now sit on the boards for Brady, Illinois Council Against Handgun Board and the Illinois Gun Violence Prevention Coalition.”

-Delphine Cherry, Illinois