CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A 53-year-old South Side daycare provider was shot to death Wednesday on her way home from work in Altgeld Gardens on the Far South Side, sparking outrage.
At about 10:26 p.m., Kimberly Underwood, 53, was pulling into a lot near her home in the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex, in the 1000 block of East 133rd Street, when shots rang out, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
Underwood was struck in the face and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
An activist pastor Donovan Price said she was caught in cross fire.
"Coming home from work. You know, you can't even say, wrong place, wrong time, because she is doing what everyone does," he said.
People who knew her showed up at the scene, including family, who said she was a longtime daycare provider and grandmother. Underwood’s cousin, Jesse Underwood, said that Kimberly had two daughters and a son, as well as 11 grandchildren.
“She’ll be truly missed, its unbelievable, its hitting too many families,” Jesse Underwood said. “You can’t even pull into your own parking lot.”
Her family said Kimberly never worried about the gang members in the area. She said they knew her.
Her sister, Angela Underwood Green said, "blacks are killing blacks over stupid things. This was unnecessary. She was a hard-working mother and grandmother...It doesn't make any sense."
Her niece, Niki Edwards, said, "she had a genuine natural happy spirit....This gun violence is ridiculous. Its always the innocents. These people are shooting others and they're always killing the wrong person."
Underwood's extended family gathered at a home in Calumet City, where they were grieving together.
Her sister said they were going to be going to the morgue later Thursday to provide the official identification.
They said police told them at the scene last night, the didn't want to see her like she was, with a gunshot wound to the face.
No arrests have been reported. Area South detectives are investigating.