Natoka T. Lee and Tia Simone Madrigal were best friends who did many things together.
Both had 3-year-old daughters. And both attended a Monday night concert together in Gary.
On Tuesday morning, Lee and Madrigal were killed in separate shootings. Police in Gary and East Chicago are trying to determine if there is a link. So far, police in both cities have no suspects in custody.
“We don’t understand. Why did this happen? She was a very devoted mother. She was a very good-hearted person,” Madrigal’s 24-year-old sister, Melissa, said from her Merrillville home on Thursday.
“She was sweetie pie. She never did anything wrong to nobody,” said Lee’s mother, Jacqueline Lee of Gary.
Madrigal, 22, grew up in East Chicago but moved with her family to a home in Merrill-ville’s Turkey Creek neighborhood about three years ago.
About a year ago, Tia Madrigal moved out and began living at 3608 Michigan Court, considered to be a very rough area of East Chicago.
She lived in the apartment with her only child, a daughter.
About 10 a.m. Tuesday, East Chicago police received a call about shots being fired in the 3600 block of Guthrie Street.
Deputy Police Chief Ed Samuels says it appears that Madrigal got involved in a dispute with a man in her apartment.
The argument spilled into the street, with reports that a man was running after Madrigal.
After being shot repeatedly, Madrigal was transported to St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where she died about 11:11 a.m.
Madrigal’s daughter was not with her at the time of the shooting. She was with her grandmother in Merrillville.
“Whoever shot her was an acquaintance,” Samuels said. “It started in her apartment. Neighbors heard her arguing with an individual. She ran out of her apartment with a male. She was being chased by this subject.”
About the same time, Gary police responded to a homicide scene at 4304 W. 23rd Court, Building 11 in the Oak Knoll Renaissance Apartments.
There, they found Lee, 21, a graduate of West Side High School, with a gun-shot wound to the head.
She was pronounced dead about 1:46 p.m.
The Lake County coroner’s office has listed both killings as homicides.
Gary police Detectives Keith Richardson said the women had attended a rap concert at the Ambridge Mann Pavilion, 4th Avenue and Taney Street in Gary, on Monday night.
“They left together and were both found dead the next morning,” Richardson said Thursday. “We’ve got some leads. We’re following up on them.”
Neither police department was willing to divulge much information on the homicides.
Jacqueline Lee said she doesn’t understand how both women died. Lee said she considered Madrigal a daughter.
“They went to see one of their friends having a concert. She wasn’t into no drugs or violence. It was just two young women out having a nice time,” Lee said. “Twenty-one is too young for this. Right now, I’m in a daze.
At the home of Madrigal’s family in Merrillville, unwrapped gifts left for her sit under a Christmas tree.
Melissa Madrigal says her sister’s rambunctious 3-year-old daughter doesn’t really understand what has happened to her mother.
“She’s too young. She doesn’t understand,” Melissa Madrigal said. “She was my sister’s life.”
Melissa Madrigal said her sister, who attended East Chicago Central High School, planned to spend Christmas in Merrillville, but never made it.
Tia Madrigal had battled cervical cancer and thought she was going to die, but she beat it.
“Her biggest fear was leaving her child. She didn’t want to leave her daughter,” Melissa Madrigal said.
I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS. THIS IS VERY UPSETTING TO ME. OUR GROUP PEFORMED, ALONG WITH, DRAMATIZED, BLAZED, THUGGED OUT, AND LADY LEXUS. I DOUBT IT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH AN ARGUEMENT THAT HAPPENED AT THE CONCERT. THIS WHY WE AINT GONE BLOW UP CUZ STUPID SHIT ALWAYS HAPPENS. REST IN PEACE.
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Both had 3-year-old daughters. And both attended a Monday night concert together in Gary.
On Tuesday morning, Lee and Madrigal were killed in separate shootings. Police in Gary and East Chicago are trying to determine if there is a link. So far, police in both cities have no suspects in custody.
“We don’t understand. Why did this happen? She was a very devoted mother. She was a very good-hearted person,” Madrigal’s 24-year-old sister, Melissa, said from her Merrillville home on Thursday.
“She was sweetie pie. She never did anything wrong to nobody,” said Lee’s mother, Jacqueline Lee of Gary.
Madrigal, 22, grew up in East Chicago but moved with her family to a home in Merrill-ville’s Turkey Creek neighborhood about three years ago.
About a year ago, Tia Madrigal moved out and began living at 3608 Michigan Court, considered to be a very rough area of East Chicago.
She lived in the apartment with her only child, a daughter.
About 10 a.m. Tuesday, East Chicago police received a call about shots being fired in the 3600 block of Guthrie Street.
Deputy Police Chief Ed Samuels says it appears that Madrigal got involved in a dispute with a man in her apartment.
The argument spilled into the street, with reports that a man was running after Madrigal.
After being shot repeatedly, Madrigal was transported to St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, where she died about 11:11 a.m.
Madrigal’s daughter was not with her at the time of the shooting. She was with her grandmother in Merrillville.
“Whoever shot her was an acquaintance,” Samuels said. “It started in her apartment. Neighbors heard her arguing with an individual. She ran out of her apartment with a male. She was being chased by this subject.”
About the same time, Gary police responded to a homicide scene at 4304 W. 23rd Court, Building 11 in the Oak Knoll Renaissance Apartments.
There, they found Lee, 21, a graduate of West Side High School, with a gun-shot wound to the head.
She was pronounced dead about 1:46 p.m.
The Lake County coroner’s office has listed both killings as homicides.
Gary police Detectives Keith Richardson said the women had attended a rap concert at the Ambridge Mann Pavilion, 4th Avenue and Taney Street in Gary, on Monday night.
“They left together and were both found dead the next morning,” Richardson said Thursday. “We’ve got some leads. We’re following up on them.”
Neither police department was willing to divulge much information on the homicides.
Jacqueline Lee said she doesn’t understand how both women died. Lee said she considered Madrigal a daughter.
“They went to see one of their friends having a concert. She wasn’t into no drugs or violence. It was just two young women out having a nice time,” Lee said. “Twenty-one is too young for this. Right now, I’m in a daze.
At the home of Madrigal’s family in Merrillville, unwrapped gifts left for her sit under a Christmas tree.
Melissa Madrigal says her sister’s rambunctious 3-year-old daughter doesn’t really understand what has happened to her mother.
“She’s too young. She doesn’t understand,” Melissa Madrigal said. “She was my sister’s life.”
Melissa Madrigal said her sister, who attended East Chicago Central High School, planned to spend Christmas in Merrillville, but never made it.
Tia Madrigal had battled cervical cancer and thought she was going to die, but she beat it.
“Her biggest fear was leaving her child. She didn’t want to leave her daughter,” Melissa Madrigal said.
I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS. THIS IS VERY UPSETTING TO ME. OUR GROUP PEFORMED, ALONG WITH, DRAMATIZED, BLAZED, THUGGED OUT, AND LADY LEXUS. I DOUBT IT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH AN ARGUEMENT THAT HAPPENED AT THE CONCERT. THIS WHY WE AINT GONE BLOW UP CUZ STUPID SHIT ALWAYS HAPPENS. REST IN PEACE.
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