Chanda Foreman | Homicide Watch Chicago

Fashion sense, faith in God, and love of family will be how loved ones remember 'girly girl' Chanda Foreman

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 14:56:32 -0500

Chanda Foreman | Facebook

By ZOE FISHER
Homicide Watch Chicago

Chanda Foreman’s close friends and family remember her for her faith in God and her love of fashion and food.

The 37-year-old was murdered on July 1, her birthday. She and a few friends had just returned from a birthday celebration at Cooper Hawk restaurant on 111th street and stopped at Foreman's great aunt's house to check on her 6-year-old daughter, Chaylah. THey were planning to head downtown to continue the celebration.

Around 15 members of Foreman’s family, including kids, were sitting on the porch enjoying the evening in West Beverly when a car pulled up and opened fire, according to her aunt, Jackie Spicer.

Foreman and a friend were shot while sitting in her car, and three other people were shot on the porch, according to her mother, Cathy Geralds. She died while being transported to Holy Cross Hospital, police said.

To the family’s knowledge, there are no suspects or leads in the case. The car the shooters used was found burned a few days later.

Chanda Foreman | Facebook

Foreman’s daughter was in the house during the shooting and now stays with Geralds.

Chaylah Foreman’s features, interest and mannerisms resemble her mother’s, Geralds said.

She figures her fashion taste will eventually follow suit.

Because of Foreman’s love for H&M, Michael Kors and MAC, her friends referred to her as a fashionista. “She was an all-around girly girl,” Henry said.

Pencil skirts, pastels, and lime-green nails were part of her signature style. Foreman’s younger cousin, Markita Sims, found solace in Foreman wearing a cream, floral dress with her trademark nails visible at her funeral.

Faith was another consistent dimension in all of her relationships. She attended church every Sunday and bible study on Wednesdays, Sims said.

“She was a very reliable and spiritual friend,” Denise Henry said, “She kinda had a motherly protection.”

Geralds said Foreman acted as a second mother to her four siblings, who were all raised in the Baptist church.

And as the oldest of five, family members always admired her independence. But they stressed that independence and her other values reflected her relationship with God.

Henry remembers a mutual friend losing their tax refund, and Foreman prayed for her to find it until she did.

Chanda Foreman | Facebook

Her younger cousin, Markita Sims, said Foreman taught her about honesty and loyalty. “She would always say, ‘Tell the truth, lies will catch up with you,’” Sims said.

After graduating, she got her own apartment and began working. This year marked her 10th at Comcast. And even though she had a promising future in styling from practicing on her family, Foreman planned on switching to a career in physical therapy and was enrolled in classes at South Suburban College.

Geralds realized at a young age that her daughter was advanced academically. “She excelled in everything she did,” she said. Foreman attended Simeon Career Academy, the first person in her family to attend there, which allowed her siblings and cousins to follow her.

Foreman instilled the same importance in education, faith and her passion for glamour into her daughter, who she’d reward with a manicure and pedicure if she did well in school that week.

Geralds remembered the young girl’s response when she heard that her family members had been shot.

“I hope everybody get their life back,” the girl said, according to Geralds.

And “everybody did, but her mother,” Geralds said.

Chanda Foreman shot to death in Washington Heights attack on her 37th birthday

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 10:49:09 -0500

By MATTHEW HENDRICKSON and MITCHELL ARMENTROUT
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Police inspect a car at the scene of a mass shooting in Washington Heights late Thursday. | Network Video Productions

Chanda Foreman spent the day before her death going to work, hanging out with her cousin and preparing to go out at night.

She went to her job at Comcast early, where her co-workers had decorated her desk and held a party in honor of her 37th birthday on Thursday, her family said.

Foreman was shot and killed and four others were wounded when a gold Buick with four people inside pulled up about 9:45 p.m. in the 9500 block of South Loomis, and two gunmen opened fire from the back seat, according to Chicago Police.

Foreman was inside her car when she was shot, her mother, Cathy Geralds said. She was told another woman was shot inside Foreman’s car, and three other people were shot on the front porch of Foreman’s aunt’s home.

Chanda Foreman | Facebook

Geralds said her cousin, whose wife was also shot, called her about the shooting. The cousin didn’t know if Foreman had been struck, but when Geralds arrived at the crime scene, she was told she didn’t want to see her daughter in the condition she was in.

“And I knew she was gone,” Geralds said. “She was gone.”

She died while being transported to Holy Cross Hospital with a gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Earlier in the evening, she had gone to dinner downtown and then to her aunt’s home, Geralds said. She was told that two groups of people were shooting from either end of the block and believed that Foreman was struck while waiting inside her car outside the house.

Police investigate a Far South Side shooting that left a woman dead and four others wounded late Thursday. | Network Video Productions

“I didn’t get to talk to her today,” Geralds said. “I sent her a text and wished her a happy birthday.”

Geralds remembered her daughter as a responsible woman who had worked at her job for 10 years. Foreman’s 6-year-old daughter will likely live with her now, she said. The child is not allowed to play outside on the sidewalk, and her daughter’s death makes Geralds wonder if she wants to move somewhere else.

Geralds said this was the second time her daughter was shot. Foreman was shot inside a car when a person running down the street in the area of 79th Street and King Drive began shooting. A bullet went through the door of her car and struck her ankle, her mother said.

In addition to Foreman, who lived in the 4300 block of West Ford City Drive, four other people were wounded in Thursday’s shooting.

Two men were taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. One, 33, was shot in the neck and the other, 25, suffered gunshot wounds to the arm, side and back, police said.

A 45-year-old woman shot in the arm was taken to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, along with a 54-year-old woman with wounds to the leg and foot, police said. They were in fair-to-serious condition, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Bullets riddle the door of a car at the scene of a Far South Side mass shooting late Thursday. | Network Video Productions

Police said the shooting was gang-related.

Foreman’s family members gathered outside Holy Cross early Friday morning as they learned the news of her death. Some cried and others were dazed and said they couldn’t believe what they were being told.

One of her cousins, who asked not to be named, said she was hanging out with Foreman earlier.

“She was a great person,” she said. “We were just saying earlier, we were afraid of these streets.”