Quanita Jackson was shot and killed in a drive by shooting last Sunday across the street from a Milwaukee park where just 24 hours earlier she had been organizing a community youth event.
Jackson, who worked for multiple youth organizations in Milwaukee, was trying to organize a youth basketball tournament in Moody Park as part of a Program the Parks event.
Jackson’s murder has sent shockwaves through the Milwaukee community and, while she did not appear to be the actual target of the shooter, local attorney Michael Hupy has offered a $25,000 dollar reward for information about her murder.
“She had an amazing talent,” Tom Schneider, executive director of Children’s Outing Association Youth & Family Centers of Milwaukee, said in a statement reported in The Root. “But she had more than talent, she had heart.”
Vaun Mayes, who is the Executive Director of Program the Parks, says that he started Program the Parks in response to the violence in Milwaukee. Program the Parks received a grant from Forward Community Investments in 2017.
Mayes said that Quanita Jackson, whom everyone called “Tay”, was sparkling during the Saturday event.
“Tay was glowing. She was happy. She was dancing,” Mayes told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We had youth ambassador shirts made and she was so excited about that, and that’s what makes it worse. That she’s gone just a day later.”
