Mom Shot Dead While Lighting Candles For Her Son At His Memorial | He Was Killed Just Days Ago At the Same Spot

The spot where the mother and son were shot dead just days apart is said to be one of the deadliest areas in Chicago.

Cover Image Source: GoFundMe | HOMEGOIN FOR DELISA TUCKER & KEVIN TINKER

By Devika Menon

June 29, 2023

Posted June 29, 2023

Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 3, 2021. It has since been updated.

Trigger Warning: This story contains details of gun violence and murder that may be disturbing to readers.

Delisa Tucker mourned the loss of her son at his memorial in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood on November 24, 2021. Tucker lost her 14-year-old son, Kevin Tinker, to gun violence just a few days before, on November 21, 2021. Her life then came to a tragic end at the same place her son was killed, according to ABC News, when she was shot fatally in the chest.

"While she was lighting candles for her son, her life was taken," wrote Michelle Tharpe, a family friend, on the GoFundMe page set up to help pay the family's funeral expenses. "This world is so cold."

Tucker, a mother-of-six, was found lying on a sidewalk when police responded to a ShotSpotter alert around 12:15 am local time. She was immediately rushed to Roseland Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to officials.

Chicago shooting: Police release video in Roseland murder of Kevin Tinker, 14, days before mother, Delisa Tucker, killed - ABC7 Chicago Let’s round the these killers up. Before Monday! https://t.co/jIiYJVN9WK
— Chicago public trust (@TrustChicago) November 26, 2021

Cops say there were no witnesses to the shooting, and that they are unsure if the two shootings are connected. No arrests have been made with regards to either incident.

According to New York Post, Tucker's son was pronounced dead at the same spot just three days prior after he was struck multiple times by gunfire. At the time the boy was gunned down, he was standing outside a home that had been targeted earlier in the day.

“It’s just sad that this whole family, basically, to be killed over time,” said Pastor Donovan Price, who said he consoled Tucker at a vigil for her son Sunday night, according to Chicago Sun-Times. “I’m devastated.”

That's crazy she didn't even get a chance to make funeral arrangements for her son Kevin Tinker RIP Delisa Tucker this is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/oHYumdNuzE
— admirekyrie (@admirekyrie) November 25, 2021

Price said he helped Tucker years ago when her daughter, who was 6 at the time, was wounded in a shooting. Years later, Price helped Tucker when her brother was fatally shot. “You try to help people so that maybe their lives change,” he said. “I become part of the family of the people I help.”

On the day of Tinker's death, Price attended a vigil where he remembers Tucker screaming out, “Why did you have to take Kevin? You should have taken me.” It was early on Wednesday morning that Price got a text message saying that Tucker had also been shot dead at the same place that her son died.

The locality where Tucker and Tinker were shot dead is said to be one of the deadliest neighborhoods in Chicago, despite all the added police protection to the area. It has seen 26 shooting deaths in 2021 alone.