A tragic incident unfolded early Sunday morning in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood, where a 29-year-old woman, identified as Jamia Taylor, was shot in the chest and later pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Hospital, WGN-TV reports. The shooting occurred just before 5:30 a.m. in the 1800 block of East 79th Street, as confirmed by Chicago police.

Victim Jamia Taylor, mother of six, was out celebrating her birthday on the Thursday before her untimely death, Chicago police said in a statement and relatives shared with ABC7. at the scene, officers discovered her unresponsive with a critical chest wound, and despite the medical attempts to save her life, she succumbed to her injuries, a loss that has left her family and especially her mother, Tomanita Whitehorn, grappling with disbelief and sorrow.

"No, it still feel like a dream," Tomanita Whitehorn told ABC7 in an interview. "All of it seem like it's a dream. Everything." Whitehorn described her daughter as a vibrant and caring person, who was a good parent that wore a perpetual smile. Jamia was known for her willingness to help others, which added to the mystery and devastation surrounding her death, according to her mother's account.

As investigations continue by CPD Area Four detectives into Taylor's death as a homicide, no arrests have been made; Taylor, fondly remembered under her social media moniker "Mya Da Baddie", held two jobs, one in retail and the other as a security guard, managing a full life as a provider and a figure of social influence, she supported her children, their ages ranging from less than a year to twelve years old, and her sudden absence leaves a harrowing question for the family: "What my grand babies gonna do?" Tomanita Whitehorn wondered in her conversation with ABC7, reflecting on the difficult reality the children must now face without their mother.