Terry'a Adams, a 25 year old African American mother of one from Chicago, was killed just after 1 a.m. on June 4, 2023, when gunfire erupted at a large gathering in the 4800 block of West Iowa Street in the Austin neighborhood.
Friends and family had filled the block for a celebration of life in memory of her boyfriend, who had died in a car crash four years earlier.
Police said a verbal altercation broke out between attendees and the shooting followed, turning a memorial into a stampede for cover. She was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead there.
The moment the peace cracked was captured on nearby cameras: dozens ran for safety while at least one gunman, dressed in jeans and a white top, stepped into the street, opened fire, and fled toward Cicero Avenue.
Investigators later said the video showed at least one shooter and allowed for the possibility that several people began firing.
Area Four detectives returned to the block in daylight, canvassing for evidence and witnesses amid the debris of the night.
Six others were wounded, teenagers and adults, taken to West Suburban and Stroger hospitals with injuries ranging from leg wounds to a man in critical condition with gunshots to the chest and arm.
Detectives recovered more than 100 shell casings as they worked the scene, a measure of how quickly the celebration had been swallowed by chaos.
Witnesses in the surrounding buildings said cars lined the streets and the alleyway, several neighbors had called 911 repeatedly as the crowd swelled becoming noisier by the minute. Their pleas for assistance to disperse the ever-growing crowd went unanswered. No help came until it was too late, and Terry'a M Adams was dead.
By morning, they were left with bullet-riddled vehicles and the conviction that the gathering should have been dispersed before the shooting; city officials acknowledged a “challenging weekend” and the difficulty of staying ahead of large, fluid summer crowds.
Family described the 25 year old as vibrant and determined. She worked as a medical assistant and team lead at Erie Family Health Centers, and she was set to begin nursing school in August.
At a balloon release near the scene, relatives and coworkers remembered her wide smile and the way she tried to brighten every room she entered.
Police have not announced any arrests. As of the days immediately following the shooting, investigators said no one was in custody; the gunman seen in the video, and any others who may have fired, had fled into the night. The case remains under investigation.
Thus leaving the mystery of who snuffed out the bright light of a future life-saver, Terry'a M. Adam's friends and family, still unsolved over two years later.
When will the blood of the innocent stop flowing through the streets of Chicago?
