MILWAUKEE — A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who took the life of Quanita ‘Tay’ Jackson.
The 20-year-old community activist was shot and killed Sunday night near Moody Park at 23rd and Burleigh.
Less than 24 hours later, colorful balloons filled a dreary night sky as her friends and family gathered to express their love for the fallen community activist.
“Since day one, when I had nobody to talk to she would be the one to come to,” said Jackson’s former Vincent High School classmate Quan.
Hundreds formed a prayer circle inside a community center Monday night where Jackson had volunteered for several years.
“Our lives have value! Our babies have value!” state senator Lena Taylor told the crowd.
Taylor begs for this tragedy to serve as a wake up call to end senseless gun violence in Milwaukee, gun violence that Jackson battled with her words as a hip-hop artist.
“She came in five years ago, she was just a bubbly young teenager, 15 years old coming in eyes big,” said True Skool Co-executive director Shalina Ali.
Ali said Jackson found her voice in the Milwaukee-based arts program. Jackson used her words to send a message. Now Ali hopes that message is heard loud and clear.
“To have something that violent happen to a young person, it could have happened to anybody and it hurts, but because it happened to Tay it opens up the possibility for a different kind of conversation,” Ali said.
Milwaukee police are still searching for a suspect.
