LITTLE VILLAGE — Friends and family are mourning the loss of 17-year-old Tierra Franklin who was shot and killed last week.
At about 3 p.m. Friday, Tierra was with family in the McDonald’s parking lot at South Kolin Avenue and West 26th Street when a man shot and killed her, police said. Anthony Heredia, 19, was later charged with murder, according to prosecutors.
The man told investigators McDonald’s employees called him because they recognized Tierra as someone who was involved in an altercation at the restaurant the previous week, according to prosecutors.
Heredia showed up at the McDonald’s but waited outside after employees told him everything was OK, prosecutors said. After watching Tierra throw a cup of water through McDonald’s drive-through window, he fired two shots at her striking her in the torso, prosecutors said.
Tierra’s family drove her to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Police arrested Heredia shortly after the shooting Friday and he was charged with first-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon. He appeared in bond court Sunday where he was ordered held without bail.
Tierra’s family told ABC7 the teen was going to be a senior at Curie High School, and was looking forward to graduation and prom, and had dreams of becoming a lawyer.
“They tell you they’re going out to the store, you expect them to come back home. So it’s tragic,” Tierra’s aunt, Juanita Flowers, told ABC7.
Tierra’s mother died in April, and her father was killed when she was only five, they said.
Tierra’s family couldn’t immediately be reached Wednesday.