Loved ones mourn Auburn Gresham woman killed while celebrating 25th birthday

Kayla Winfrey didn’t have any siblings, but she acted as a sister for everyone from friends to cousins to older family members through acts of kindness and wisdom beyond her years.

On Tuesday morning, several loved ones reminisced — some tearfully — about Winfrey outside her home in the 8000 block of South Morgan Street where she was shot Saturday night while celebrating her 25th birthday.

“Anytime you stepped in a room with [Winfrey], it was pure laughter and energy,” said Laquita Summerville, Winfrey’s 34-year-old cousin. “Anybody that came across her and met her, they loved her.”

"She was the sister I didn't have," 25-year-old Jaquay Harrell, one of Winfrey's close friends, said. "It felt like I lost a piece of me. Words can't even fathom the pain I feel."

“It’s a roller coaster,” said Laquita Summerville, who lives in Minneapolis and traveled to Chicago after hearing of her cousin’s murder. “We all just trying to help everybody get through it, but it’s not easy.”

Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

“I close my eyes every day since it happened, and I hear her voice and I get hurt,” Laquita Summerville added. “My heart breaks just thinking about it because she didn’t deserve none of that.”

Winfrey had about 30 to 40 guests who were “mostly friends and family” at her 25th birthday when a fight between two groups of women broke out about 11:45 p.m., according to a police report obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.

It isn't clear what the dispute was about, but the fight moved to the front porch and a woman involved in the fight called for the alleged shooter to come over, according to the police report. When he got there in a silver or gray car, he opened fire, hitting Winfrey and a 36-year-old Matteson man, according to the report.

Winfrey was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound to her chest less than an hour later.

The alleged shooter, who police said was age 26 and from the Washington Heights neighborhood, fled in the same car, authorities said. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Coming back from visiting the cemetery Tuesday morning, Winfrey’s mother, Equanda Summerville, said her daughter always helped youth in any way she could. Winfrey was a youth mentor with Chicago's SGA Youth and Family Services, she said.

“She would give you the shirt off her back,” Equanda Summerville said. “She used to take double lunch to school so she could feed her classmates.”

Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

Equanda Summerville was at her daughter’s 25th birthday party but was upstairs when the fight broke out on the porch and didn’t have the chance to say goodbye before her daughter died.

“I was coming downstairs to see what was going on,” Equanda Summerville said. “She had already got shot, and her friends and my nephews removed me, wouldn’t let me come to see her laying down there.”

The family said one of the people allegedly involved in the shooting was a supposed close friend of Winfrey who would visit the house and eat Equanda Summerville’s home-cooked meals.

“I just want justice because she didn't deserve this,” Equanda Summerville said about the death of her daughter.

Laquita Summerville echoed calls for justice and "prays the justice system does right."

“That was our cousin. That was someone’s daughter. That was someone’s granddaughter. That was a family member,” Summerville said. “I feel like the shooter should no longer have freedom to be out in the community.”

Candace Dane Chambers/Sun-Times

Winfrey, who was a former EMT who worked for Elite Ambulance, studied business in college and survived a car accident in 2023. Summerville thought she was going to lose her only daughter after Winfrey lost control of her car right around the corner of the building where the mother and daughter lived together, she said. Three years later, Winfrey was just gaining the strength to walk normally before she was shot and killed.

Winfrey was described as an “old soul” who enjoyed making rap music, being a comedian and playing basketball. She was a devout Michael Jackson fan and had a full costume ready for the release of the Jackson biopic titled “Michael,” which is set to be released April 24.

Loved ones don’t yet know what comes next following Winfrey's murder, but will push forward for her, their soul sister.

"I know she wouldn’t want me to sit here and be moping around all day," Harrell said. "As long as I can get up on my two feet, I'm gonna keep going for her, keep living [and] try to better myself in her image."