Laterika Taylor: 22-Year-Old Pregnant Mom Found Fatally Shot In Louisiana
Laterika Taylor, a mother of three children, was looking forward to her fourth blessing, family members told local media.
The 22-year-old Baton Rouge, Louisiana, mother made money by styling hair, even doing house calls to make ends meet.
Taylor already had a 4-year-old boy and set of 2-year-old twins. Now she was in her first trimester of pregnancy.
“She’d give you the shirt off her back if she had to,” her mother, Pamela, told The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge.
When Taylor didn’t respond to repeated calls from her family, they grew suspicious.
“We called her phone, no answer. Okay, I told my daughter, I say, ‘Well, if she doesn’t come back home Monday morning, we’ll put out a missing person on her because that’s not like her to not answer her phone,’” Gwendolyn Taylor, Laterika’s grandmother, told WAFB.
Taylor was found shot to death in her car by Baton Rouge police officers early May 23, 2021.
Officers approached the vehicle, which was in a ditch, and found Taylor suffering from at least one gunshot wound.
Police say they have no suspect or motive and have yet to make an arrest.
The victim’s grandmother, Judy Gage, told the newspaper that she learned of the murder of her eldest granddaughter by watching the news on TV. Soon, officers visited her home to notify her officially of the slaying.
“I couldn’t do anything but just start screaming and crying,” she was quoted as saying.
Family and friends gathered recently at a community center to mark Taylor’s death. They released balloons in her memory.
“I just want justice for her,” Pamela was quoted as saying. “There’s nothing going through my mind. I just ask that they get who killed her. All I want is justice.
A GoFundMe set up to provide for Taylor’s children says:
“I’m reaching out to the public to help pay for burial costs, of 21 year old Laterika Taylor . she was left shot to death on 5/23/2021 , Baton Rouge La , She is a mother of 3 Kids Devin ,Devion , Da’miri she also 5 weeks pregnant!!! Please if you can help out in anyway ! anything can help theres only one gofundme account up anyother is fake ! Please contact me if you have Concern on helping ! [phone redacted].”
Baton Rouge police are asking anyone with information about Taylor’s slaying to call the department’s violent crimes division at (225) 389-3869 or Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.