An 18-year-old nursing student was killed and four others injured during a shooting inside a Chicago food mart after the suspects missed their intended targets, authorities said.
Jaya Beemon, a nursing student at Malcolm X College, was identified as the deceased victim after she was shot in the neck on Tuesday.
The violence began just after 5pm when two men and a woman approached Ali’s Minimart in the Avalon neighborhood with guns drawn.
The three suspects walked into the store, looked inside and then suddenly opened fire.
The Chicago Police Department are looking for two men and a woman who opened fire into a convenience store on Tuesday
‘After firing almost 20 rounds into the store, the three suspects entered a vehicle and fled,’ CPD Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck told ABC 7.
Footage shows the suspects walking towards Ali’s Minimart off the street before entering the door and firing off several rounds.
They flee the scene in a four-door white sedan with damage to the rear passenger fender, dual exhaust, tinted windows, black rims and without a front license plate, authorities said.
One suspect was wearing a dark jacket with brown fur around the collar, one was wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt and one was wearing a dark jacket with light colored jeans.
Authorities said the suspects missed their intended target, who they believe left the store earlier and was not injured
They escaped the scene in a four-door white sedan with damage to the rear passenger fender, dual exhaust, tinted windows and black rims
It’s unclear what prompted the shooting, but authorities say they missed their intended target.
They claim to know who the target was and are currently searching for him. Police believe the target left before the suspects arrived and was not injured in the gun fire.
Jaya was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.
Jaya Beemon (pictured), a young nursing student at Malcolm X College, was shot dead on Tuesday inside Ali’s Minimart
Nyisha Beemon, Jaya’s 35-year-old mother, remembered her daughter fondly and calls the continual shooting ‘overkill’.
Beemon said: ‘My daughter was loving, funny, dancing silly, she was a teenager. If you fire 20 rounds, that’s overkill. Who do you hate that much, so bad that my daughter had to get shot?’
Also injured in the shooting was a 19-year-old man with a wound to the leg; a 17-year-old girl that was shot in the arm, leg and ankle; an 18-year-old woman shot in the back; and a 63-year-old man shot in the leg.
Family members of Jaya say she was in the convenience store picking up a snack with her date.
Jaya’s and her date, the 19-year-old man shot and a fellow nursing classmate, had taken a bus to the convenience store after spending time at the Shedd Aquarium.
He was taken to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital and stabilized.
‘[Jaya] went with a friend to the Shedd Aquarium came back around his house,’ said Tiana Beemon, the girl’s aunt.
‘Local store just to grab some snacks and some vicious monsters decided to take her life. Monsters.’
Fmily said Jaya (left and right) was inside Ali’s Minimart picking up snacks with a date after the two went to Shedd’s Aquarium
In a time of grieving, the family said they have been dealing with police trouble after authorities removed a distraught Beemon from the hospital, jailed her and charged her with misdemeanors just after Jaya’s death.
Tiana, 37, told the Chicago Tribune that when Beemon arrived at the hospital and saw her dead daughter in the emergency room, she collapsed to the floor while screaming.
She said that Chicago police officers forcibly dragged Beemon out of the room after hospital staff complained about the mother’s behavior. She was reportedly held for several hours.
All the while, Beemon was still unsure what had killed her daughter and what transpired at Ali’s Market.
Nyisha Beemon (pictured), a registered nurse, was reportedly removed of a Chicago hospital by police officers after seeing her daughter
Pictured: Jaya Beemon (left) and Nyisha Beemon (right) together before the incident
‘There was no empathy. There was no sympathy. They treated us horribly,’ Tiana said.
Beemon was charged with battery and resisting arrest. Officers said she pushed and kicked an officer as they tried to clear the emergency room.
‘We were treated like common criminals,’ said Tiana, who along with Beemon are registered nurses.
As the family continues to process the tragic death, they find it hard to rely on the Chicago Police Department for help.
‘It was unimaginable to lose my niece how we have, and now we have to trust a police department who doesn’t even respect us,’ Tiana said.
She wants officers ‘to take that same strength and tenacity that you used to be disrespectful and condescending and…find justice for Jaya. Find those savage killers who decided to take my niece’s life’.
Jaya was the oldest of four children and had dreams of moving to California. In 2016, she was reported missing, but was later found safe.
According to the Chicago Tribune, 310 people have been shot in 2020 as of February 25. That is 61 more than in 2019.