In the summer of 2021, a bright life was tragically cut short just days before a milestone birthday. Kyanna Woods McCrea, a 16-year-old girl from Southwest Philadelphia, was fatally shot in the head on the evening of July 10, 2021. The incident occurred at the intersection of Colwyn Avenue and South 3rd Street in Colwyn Borough, Delaware County. Emergency services responded to the scene just after 9:15 p.m. and transported her to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Her death came a mere four days before she would have celebrated her 17th birthday.
Authorities investigating the shooting believe that Kyanna was an innocent bystander, caught in the crossfire of a violent exchange between individuals in multiple vehicles. It is thought that several shooters opened fire from their cars, and Kyanna was tragically in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her family remembers her as a vibrant young woman who loved to dance and get her hair done. She had a beautiful smile and a caring, loving, and funny personality. At the time of her death, she was working at a McDonald's in King of Prussia and had attended Tilden Middle School.
The investigation into Kyanna's death remains ongoing, and as of yet, no suspects have been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made. The motive for the shooting is still unknown. The Colwyn Borough Police Department and the Delaware County District Attorney's Criminal Investigations Division have urged anyone with information to come forward. A year after her death, family and friends gathered for a youth march to honor her memory and to make a plea for an end to the senseless gun violence that took her life. Her mother, Latoya McCrea, has publicly called for the person responsible for her daughter's death to turn themselves in, expressing the profound pain of losing her child and the hope that justice will one day be served.
