Aeyanuna Rogers, 22, was with her friend Briane Goodrum near the pedestrian crossway at Lake Shore Drive and 57th Street around 11 p.m. Monday when an altercation broke out.
"She's the person you would call if you were down, and you wanted to be cheered up. She was the one to call and help you feel better," Goodrum said.
Goodrum said she and Rogers were walking when they came upon the crowd and the fight broke out. "We saw some guys throw some punches, and she just grabbed me and said let's leave in case they start shooting," Goodrum said.
Witnesses said four of five shots were fired. Rogers was hit the head. She fell to the ground.
"I'm like Aeyanuna, get up," Goodrum said. "She wasn't moving. So I turned her over, and then more blood just kept coming out."
A second person was wounded in the calf. The teenager is expected to be OK, according to his mother, Gerilynn White.
"I feel so sad that people can't go out and just enjoy the weather without there being a bunch of violence. Everybody is somebody's child," White said.
Rogers was a recent Northern Illinois University graduate with a degree in child development.
"We were just trying to leave. We were...we were at the wrong place, wrong time," Goodrum said.
"There were a bunch of people around. They were trying to help me," said Goodrum. "I was trying to talk to her. I was like, 'Are you here with me?' She kinda looked side to side. So she gave me some eye motion. But I was holding her hand and asked her to squeeze it and she couldn't."
"I hope that someone will come forward. Even if you saw something, you know, call the police and let them know what you have seen," Annyce Dunbar, mother of victim's friend.
Police do not believe Rogers was a target.
Police have made no arrests in the case and they have not released a description of any suspect or suspects. It's unclear if there are any surveillance cameras in the area that might help with the investigation.
