Hundreds gathered Saturday afternoon in the Bay Bridge Garden apartments parking lot to mourn the death of Tiara Taylor, 30, who was fatally shot in front of her mother’s home.
Holding bouquets of shiny red and black balloons, and donning t-shirts that read, “gone too soon but never forgotten,” her family and friends cried, hugged, and prayed for justice.
Taylor was pronounced dead on the scene after Annapolis police responded about 10:30 pm. Wednesday to reports that a woman had been shot outside an apartment building. Saturday night police said the investigation was ongoing bu that no one has been charged or arrested in her murder.
“Whoever did this, they’re cowards,” one of Taylor’s aunts said at the vigil.
This is the second time the community has been touched by fatal gun violence in less than a year — Kory Johnson, 27, was shot and killed on the same street in late October of 2018.
William Pratt, who spoke before the balloon release, implored members of the community to end the cycle of violence. He asked anyone with information to come forward.
Taylor’s mother, Michelle Church, said she was at home when her daughter was killed, but she didn’t hear the gunshots. Church said someone knocked on her door, and when she stepped outside she recognized her daughter’s shoes. She said she collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
At the vigil, Church pointed to security cameras around the apartment complex, which she has been told by neighbors were not working at the time of her daughter’s murder.
Sgt. Amy Miguez, police spokeswoman, could not confirm whether the cameras were working. Management officials at the Bay Ridge Gardens complex could not be reached for comment.
“This has to stop, my brothers and sisters,” said the Rev. Charles Carroll, a friend of Taylor’s mother who spoke at the vigil. “We have become so desensitized to this type of situation that it’s almost normal.”
Carroll, chairman of the Anne Arundel County Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, lost his son to gun violence in 2016.
“We gotta wake up and say ‘we are worthy of protection,’ and we gotta fight for what we want,” Caroll said.
Before the crowd released their balloons, a woman led the crowd in singing Le’Andria Johnson’s “Better Days Are Coming.”
Friends spoke of Taylor’s “heart of gold.” Church said “to know her was to love her.”
Church said Taylor had graduated from Meade High School and had hopes of going to college to become a sports psychologist. Her mother said she was homeless but was working hard to get back on her feet.
Taylor didn’t live with her mother but visited her often, Church said. She had come over to visit on Monday, just two days before she died.
Police are asking anyone with information about this case to contact Detective Tom Pyles at 410-260-3439. It is the third homicide of the year.
