In the quiet, pre-dawn hours of August 30, 2016, Natasha Hays, a 38-year-old Black female, was asleep in her Kansas City, Kansas, home. A devoted and hardworking mother of three, she was a caregiver by profession, known for spending the majority of her time helping others. Living with her were her three teenage children, ages 18, 16, and 14. At approximately 3:45 a.m., the peace of the neighborhood in the 2400 block of North Ninth Street was shattered by the sound of rapid gunfire as a car sped
by, spraying Hays's bedroom with bullets.
Inside the home, the gunshots woke her children. When their calls for their mother went unanswered, her 14-year-old son entered her room to a horrific scene. He found his mother still under the covers, having been shot and killed as she slept. Three other people were inside the house at the time of the shooting, but they were not injured. The family, including her cousin, the singer Janelle Monáe, was left devastated and searching for answers. Monáe took to social media to mourn her "beautiful 1st cousin," decrying the gun violence that had struck her family and community.
In the immediate aftermath, police had no known suspects and urged the public to come forward with any information. Family members pleaded with anyone in the area who might have surveillance footage to provide it to the authorities. A neighbor reported seeing a gray car with a sunroof and a spoiler speeding away from the scene. Despite these initial leads, no arrests were made in Natasha Hays's murder, and the person or persons responsible remained at large.
Her death marked the beginning of what would become a string of violent and retaliatory killings in the community. Days after her murder, a 15-year-old girl was killed in another drive-by shooting. Natasha Hays's own teenage son was later charged with first-degree murder in connection with that subsequent killing, though a jury eventually found him not guilty. This cycle of violence continued, with more young lives lost in the ensuing months, and the formation of a group known as the "Tasha Gang" in her memory. To this day, the case of who murdered Natasha Hays remains unsolved.
