A community came together for a peace rally Tuesday in memory of an 18-year-old shot and killed in Southeast D.C. on Valentine’s Day.
D.C. Police said they responded at around 9:12 p.m. to the interaction of Branch Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast for “the report of a traffic crash,” where they found that Cierra Young, of District Heights, had crashed.
When they looked inside, they saw Young suffering from a bullet wound. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Tuesday night, her devastated mother demanded to know who shot her, a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, and why.
“I’m sad. You know, Cierra was a beautiful kid. She was always smiling and I’m going to miss that, you know,” Lashawn Young said.
Around 200 people mourned Young at the vigil, where they hugged through tears on the sidewalk at the intersection where she was shot.
“It was a total shock. I was praying that she would be OK," Leshawn Young said. "But then I found out she wasn’t OK."
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Young’s family said they believe she was the victim of road rage, but police said the murder is still under investigation.
The Metropolitan Police Department is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in this case.
“We lost a good person, we lost a beautiful soul,” Leshawn Young said.
