DETROIT – One by one, family and friends of 24-year old Paris Strickland wrote messages of love on a street sign dedicated to her.
A vigil was held Thursday for Strickland, who was killed last week.
Family members said Strickland was pregnant when someone shot and killed her Nov. 26, while she sat in a car with her friend at the intersection of Fenkell Avenue and Artesian Street.
Family and friends brought balloons with smiley faces on them to the vigil in her memory.
“Paris always smiled. Always. Always. Nothing but a smile,” Athena Lowe Hollowell said.
Hollowell, a close friend of Strickland, said she met her when she was 11 years old.
“I became her adopted auntie and I just told her mom, ‘I thank her for allowing me to be called her Auntie and sharing her life with all of us,’” Hollowell said.
That’s why friends wanted to surprise Strickland’s parents, Cleo and Malcolm, with a close knit ceremony and they did just that.
“No parent can imagine. That’s a phone call you don’t want to hear. I just couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it,” Cleo Strickland said.
Anyone with information about the murder is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-SPEAK-UP.