Parasha M Beard was 19 and eight months pregnant when she was shot and killed on September 18, 2016, in the South Chicago neighborhood. She was sitting in a parked car on the 8700 block of South Marquette Avenue with a 26-year-old man who was critically injured when an unknown shooter approached and opened fire. Beard was struck in the neck and died at the hospital; doctors were able to deliver her baby, who survived at birth but later died five months after from complications related to prematurity.

Parasha is remembered by family as a loving young woman who worked, attended school and was supporting her children; her family planned to care for her four-year-old daughter and the newborn before the infant’s later death. Police have continued efforts to find the shooter. If anyone remembers activity on South Marquette Avenue around September 18, 2016, or has information about this shooting, please come forward.