Tenisha Mallet: 21-year-old mother fatally shot in the neck in Chicago

Tenisha Mallet, 21, was shot in the neck and died at the scene Saturday, February 11, 2017 outside a residence in Chicago's Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

Tenisha Mallet was a young mother trying to better herself. The Saginaw High School graduate from Saginaw, Michigan had gotten a job at McDonald's to provide for herself and her 3-year-old daughter. But her surroundings proved to be too deadly.

Police said Mallet was with three other people outside a residence in the 100 block of North Mayfield about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, February 11, 2017 in the West Side Austin neighborhood. They were talking, then death came.

A dark-colored SUV pulled up and two gunmen jumped out with firearms, spraying four people. The other three people suffered gunshot wounds, but are expected to survive.

The bullet pierced an artery in Mallet's neck as she collapsed to the ground. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The irony was that Mallet knew full well the dangers of gun violence. Two years ago, death hit close to home.

“She lost a very close friend to gun violence in Chicago in October 2015. The friend’s name is Terontay (Choppa) Atkinson,” a family member told the Tribune. “Tenisha said Terontay was like a father to her daughter, and he was the only father her daughter ever knew.”

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help Mallet's daughter, Ta’zarry.