MILWAUKEE — More than four months have passed since community activist Quanita 'Tay' Jackson was shot and killed near Moody Park. Milwaukee police said they have yet to find the person who fired the stray bullet that killed the 20-year-old back in August.
Tay's family said they never thought they would enter a new year without a suspect in custody. Now, with the reward for information getting smaller due to a recent deadline, they fear her case may go unsolved without sharing their pain one more time.
The first holidays without Tay brought more pain than joy for her family.
"Trying to celebrate, I almost feel guilty because somebody special is missing," said Tay's aunt Yochitta Mays.
Mays knew grieving the loss of her niece would be difficult, but she never imagined how much it would hurt knowing the person who killed Tay hasn't been caught.
"They destroyed a family, our family will be forever broken," Mays said.
Someone shot Tay in late August across the street from Moody Park on Milwaukee's north side. Tay put together a youth basketball tournament to promote peace in the troubled neighborhood just a day before. The people responsible fled the scene and police haven't been able to catch up with them since.
"Nobody wants to come in, nobody wants to point these people out," Mays said.
Mays said a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest has been cut in half due to a December 31 deadline for the full amount, but she firmly believes someone knows who did it.
"This is that one time where snitching is OK and it's not even snitching," Mays said.
"The young people still talk about her, they're still inspired by her," said Shalina Ali.
Ali said Tay's greatest legacy was mentoring inner-city youth to find their voice as she did at TRUE Skool. A mural of Tay will soon be accompanied by her music at TRUE Skool. The tribute will remind friends, family, and community members to remember the words she lived by.
"That just allows you to get lost in the love and the good memories and kind of makes us feel like she's still with us."
Milwaukee police say they are actively investigating this case. Once again, a $25,000 reward is still available for information about Tay's killer.
Sadly, it's a pain hundreds of Milwaukee families know too well. Out of 99 homicides in 2019, Milwaukee police said they had a clearance rate of 74-percent. Slightly less than half of Milwaukee's 500 homicide cases from 2014 through 2017 ended with convictions.
