WASHINGTON — The pain of losing a child, the horror of holding your firstborn in her final moments, the anger of someone being so wreckless, so thoughtless that their bullet destroyed your life -- these are emotions no parent should ever have to endure.
"She was the best daughter anyone could ask for,” Lataryna Commodore said of her 22-year-old daughter.
Commodore and her daughter Kaailyah were coming home from a family birthday party around 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning when someone started shooting in the 3800 block of Wheeler Road, Southeast.
"Two cars were coming behind us and started shooting at each other and it shattered my window and then I turned down the street," Commodore said through tears. "I went to check on my baby and the bullet hit her and she wouldn't answer."
"My first child, my twin, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy," Kaailyah's father Marcus Whitsey said.
On Monday, Kaailyah's mom, dad and her step-parents stood shoulder to shoulder outside the family home just blocks from the shooting scene, holding a portfolio of her graduation pictures, to talk about the young woman loved by all, devoted to her family and working on a degree in childcare.
“The things that help me, I was there for everything,” Whitsey said. "Her first walk, her first talk, her singing, taking her to college. It's time to put the guns downs. As you know there have been so many innocent victims of gun violence and for what? There are better ways to settle your differences."
It is hard to smile through the tears of anguish to reflect on your child's life when it was taken so young, but in her 22 years, Kaailyah brought joy to her family and friends and lived life to the fullest.
“She always used to tell me, ‘ma, you got to live life before life lives you,'" Commodore reflected. "That was her favorite quote -- you have to live life before life lives you.”
Kaailyah leaves behind four siblings, including a 4-year-old brother and 1-year old little sister. The family is looking for help in replacing their minivan, which sits across the street, the rear window still shattered and the interior still covered in blood.
Commodore doesn’t recall the make and model of the cars involved in the shooting, but remembers they were both white vehicles and looked to be involved in a chase at high speeds off Alabama Avenue just prior to the shooting.
DC Police said the shooting is still an active investigation. If you have information call DC Police.