On August 4, 2006, my mother was shot and killed in a random act of violence.
My mother was standing outside of a grocery story in Detroit. She was one of three people who were killed that night. At the time I was 15 years old, and the grief was so overwhelming that it took me years to start processing it.
My mother was one month away from her 40th birthday the night she was killed. She had a full life ahead of her, and she has missed out on so much over the past 13 years. There is nothing that can bring her back, but I share my story as a way to keep her memory alive.