DETROIT – The family of Tikiya Allen is still searching for answers two years after the 18-year-old Oakland University nursing student was killed.
Allen was shot and killed exactly two years ago on Detroit’s west side. Police said someone fired a gun out the window of a moving car at Linwood and Pingree streets. Allen was struck by gunfire and killed.
The shooter still has not been identified.
“It is hard,” her mother, Kai Cooks, said. “I cry all the time, but it will be OK. I know God. That is all that matters.”
On Friday, July 21, family members and close friends gathered on Detroit’s west side for a butterfly release at sunset. They said they wanted to make sure the work and dedication showed by Allen will never be forgotten.
Her grandmother, Bonnie Whitaker, set up a book scholarship in Allen’s honor. The motto is “reach for books, not guns.”
You can watch Shawn Ley’s full story in the video below.