A young mother killed in a Saturday night shooting in the West Side Austin neighborhood that left three other people wounded has been identified as 21-year-old Tenisha Mallett.
Tenisha Mallet | family photo
The four were outside about 8:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North Mayfield when a dark SUV approached, Chicago Police said. Two people got out of the SUV and began shooting in the direction of the group.
Mallett was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. She lived in Austin.
Family members said Mallett, who leaves behind a 3-year-old daughter, had experienced gun violence in the past.
“She lost a very close friend to gun violence in Chicago in October 2015. The friend’s name is Terontay (Choppa) Atkinson,” a family member said. “Tenisha said Terontay was like a father to her daughter, and he was the only father her daughter ever knew.”
A graduate of Saginaw High School in Saginaw, Michigan, she had worked as a cashier at McDonald’s.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help her daughter, Ta’zarry.
Three other people were wounded in the attack that killed Mallet.
A 25-year-old man was shot in the arm and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. An 18-year-old man was shot in the legs and was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. And a 25-year-old woman was shot in the face and was taken to Stroger Hospital.
All of their conditions were stabilized, police said.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire