you will be truly missed, i will do everything i can for you daughter. she sooo pretty looking like you keep watching over her and help many guide her in the right way. love you always.
The Daily Californian Young Mother Dead After Oakland Shooting Berkeley Resident Was Passenger in Vehicle Shot Saturday; Leaves Behind Two-Year-Old Daughter BY Vincent Quan Contribution Writer Thursday, July 26, 2007
Kikhiesha Brooks
A 21-year-old single mother and Berkeley resident died Saturday after being shot in Oakland, in what many who knew her are saying is a reflection of an alarming wave of violence in the East Bay. Kikhiesha Brooks, mother of a 2-year-old girl and a 2004 graduate of Berkeley High School, was riding as a passenger to her family reunion in Jack London Square when shots hit the vehicle, according to LaLane Coaxum, Brooks’ sister. Police said the car crashed near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 59th Street.
Coaxum said witnesses told her that the shooters then approached the immobilized vehicle and fired several more shots on the driver’s side, but police did not immediately confirm that.
Brooks suffered from several gunshot wounds and was transferred to Highland General Hospital at 1:30 p.m. where she was pronounced dead, Oakland police Sgt. Michael Poirier said.
The driver of the vehicle, whose name has not been released by police, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was treated at a local hospital, Poirier said. No suspects have yet been identified, he said.
“We were already in Jack London Square with her daughter, waiting for her,” Coaxum said. “We probably didn’t get a call until sometime after 2 (p.m.). At that point, (the police) had informed us that she didn’t make it.”
Brooks had recently started working with Coaxum, her eldest sister, who is now caring for her daughter, S’ari Martin, at the Oakland-based mortgage company Quality Lending.
“My sister was actually training her,” said Aquanetta Brooks, Kikhiesha Brooks’ older sister. “(Kikhiesha) has seen a lot that my sister has done. She wanted to follow her path and become just as successful.”
Friends and family members said they remember Brooks, a cheerleader and member of the Afro-Haitian dance program during her years at Berkeley High, as a loving, outgoing and especially generous person who was passionate about poetry, music and dance.
“It’s just shocking for me to hear this because she was so sweet and caring,” said Shatoya Lemmons, the godmother of Brooks’ daughter. “If she had money and you didn’t have it, even if she didn’t know you, she would help you.”
Those closest to her said her love for her daughter was Brooks' most memorable attribute.
“She wanted to give her everything that she couldn’t have when she was younger,” Aquanetta Brooks said. “She wanted to put her in private schools and do a lot of things differently so her life would be better.”
Coaxum said family members are asking that any donations in Kikhiesha Brooks’ memory be made to a trust fund set up for her daughter at Bank of America in S’ari Martin’s name.
Coaxum also said she hopes the death of her sister will open the eyes of local youth to the pointlessness of violence.
“Stop the violence, please,” Coaxum said. “Life is precious and no one has the right to take it away, and for someone to have done that to my sister was a tragedy.”
As of July 25, there have been 88 homicides in Alameda County this year, of which 69 have taken place in Oakland, according to Norma Contreras, the Alameda County coroner’s bureau investigator.
Last year at this time, there had also been 88 homicides in the county, 74 of which were in Oakland, Contreras said.
My heart still aches when I think of the day you went home. There's not a day I don't think of you and wish you were here. I wish we could change the past and undo this act!! I will love you forever I know you will continue to be an angel over your little daughter and twin. One day I will see you again and it will be like we never parted until then rest in the bossom of the Lord, my child.
Kikhiesha Brooks, 21
you will be truly missed, i will do everything i can for you daughter. she sooo pretty looking like you keep watching over her and help many guide her in the right way. love you always.
ReplyDeleteu will be missed very much yo daughter is getting so big i know if u had a second chance in life u would wish u were here 2 watch her grown up
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Californian
ReplyDeleteYoung Mother Dead After Oakland Shooting
Berkeley Resident Was Passenger in Vehicle Shot Saturday; Leaves Behind Two-Year-Old Daughter
BY Vincent Quan
Contribution Writer
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Kikhiesha Brooks
A 21-year-old single mother and Berkeley resident died Saturday after being shot in Oakland, in what many who knew her are saying is a reflection of an alarming wave of violence in the East Bay.
Kikhiesha Brooks, mother of a 2-year-old girl and a 2004 graduate of Berkeley High School, was riding as a passenger to her family reunion in Jack London Square when shots hit the vehicle, according to LaLane Coaxum, Brooks’ sister. Police said the car crashed near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 59th Street.
Coaxum said witnesses told her that the shooters then approached the immobilized vehicle and fired several more shots on the driver’s side, but police did not immediately confirm that.
Brooks suffered from several gunshot wounds and was transferred to Highland General Hospital at 1:30 p.m. where she was pronounced dead, Oakland police Sgt. Michael Poirier said.
The driver of the vehicle, whose name has not been released by police, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was treated at a local hospital, Poirier said. No suspects have yet been identified, he said.
“We were already in Jack London Square with her daughter, waiting for her,” Coaxum said. “We probably didn’t get a call until sometime after 2 (p.m.). At that point, (the police) had informed us that she didn’t make it.”
Brooks had recently started working with Coaxum, her eldest sister, who is now caring for her daughter, S’ari Martin, at the Oakland-based mortgage company Quality Lending.
“My sister was actually training her,” said Aquanetta Brooks, Kikhiesha Brooks’ older sister. “(Kikhiesha) has seen a lot that my sister has done. She wanted to follow her path and become just as successful.”
Friends and family members said they remember Brooks, a cheerleader and member of the Afro-Haitian dance program during her years at Berkeley High, as a loving, outgoing and especially generous person who was passionate about poetry, music and dance.
“It’s just shocking for me to hear this because she was so sweet and caring,” said Shatoya Lemmons, the godmother of Brooks’ daughter. “If she had money and you didn’t have it, even if she didn’t know you, she would help you.”
Those closest to her said her love for her daughter was Brooks' most memorable attribute.
“She wanted to give her everything that she couldn’t have when she was younger,” Aquanetta Brooks said. “She wanted to put her in private schools and do a lot of things differently so her life would be better.”
Coaxum said family members are asking that any donations in Kikhiesha Brooks’ memory be made to a trust fund set up for her daughter at Bank of America in S’ari Martin’s name.
Coaxum also said she hopes the death of her sister will open the eyes of local youth to the pointlessness of violence.
“Stop the violence, please,” Coaxum said. “Life is precious and no one has the right to take it away, and for someone to have done that to my sister was a tragedy.”
As of July 25, there have been 88 homicides in Alameda County this year, of which 69 have taken place in Oakland, according to Norma Contreras, the Alameda County coroner’s bureau investigator.
Last year at this time, there had also been 88 homicides in the county, 74 of which were in Oakland, Contreras said.
Contact Vincent Quan at vquan@dailycal.org.
I will be pouring libation, writing poetry and dancing in your memory. I will never forget you!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mama Ayanna
My heart still aches when I think of the day you went home. There's not a day I don't think of you and wish you were here. I wish we could change the past and undo this act!! I will love you forever I know you will continue to be an angel over your little daughter and twin. One day I will see you again and it will be like we never parted until then rest in the bossom of the Lord, my child.
ReplyDeleteWE LOVE YOU KIKI!!!!
ReplyDelete