NBA star Dwayne Wade’s cousin was shot and killed while pushing her child in a baby stroller in Chicago’s South Side.
Nykea Aldridge was going to register her children for school at around 3:30 pm on Friday afternoon when she was caught up in a heinous act of violence.
The 32-year-old was shot in the head and arm by two men and later died in a hospital emergency ward.
It is believed that the killing was unintentional and that the assailants were targeting a third man, but Aldridge was caught in the middle.
Pastor Edward Jones, a spokesman for the Wade family, revealed the news to the world, as the basketball star took to social media to call for an end to gun violence on the streets of Chicago.
The only silver lining was that the child in the baby stroller was left unhurt.
One man was questioned by police on Friday in connection with the incident.
Wade’s mother said she had been shocked by the news and that major changes were necessary in people’s attitude and the laws.
“Just sat up on a panel yesterday, The Undefeated, talking about the violence that’s going on within our city of Chicago, never knowing that the next day we would be the ones that would be actually living and experiencing it,” she said to espn.com.
“We’re still going to try and help these people to transform their minds and give them a different direction, so this thing won’t keep happening.
We’re still going to help empower people like the one who senselessly shot my niece in the head,” she promised.
Wade was born in Chicago but had spent his entire NBA career with the Miami Heat before signing with the Bulls earlier this summer.
Chicago has been plagued by violence as of late – over 2,600 people have been shot in the city in this year alone and 463 people have been killed.