19-year-old killed in shooting; family seeks justice

Aaliyah Kyles (Photo courtesy of family)

MEMPHIS, Tennessee – We’ll learn more tonight about the young woman who died in a shooting in Hickory Hill early Tuesday morning.

Family members identify her as 19-year-old Aaliyah Kyles – a daughter, sister and friend – and they are desperately looking for answers as to why this happened.

“We should have had more time,” said her mother, Montina Kyles. “She was only 19. She hadn’t even started living her life yet.”

It was early Tuesday morning, around 2 a.m., when Memphis police responded to a shooting at an apartment in the 2900 block of Bald Eagle Road in Hickory Hill and found a woman dead at the scene.

“She was really lovely. Direct and open. She would just walk into the room and light it up. ‘Hey, how are you? Are you OK?’ She was just really happy, really carefree,” her mother said.

Family members say Kyles only moved into the apartment in January.

“It was hard for us, really hard,” said her father, Anthony Kyles. “Because they took someone who meant so much to me. She was like the glue of our family. She was my everything.”

So far, the police have not arrested anyone, but the family suspects who might be responsible. They are asking anyone with information to come forward.

“Knowing who is responsible would be the beginning of healing. They have them in custody and they are not letting them out,” said Montina Kyles.

Chick-Fil-A, where Kyles used to work, has set up a GoFundMe page.

And as always, anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.