Berry family plans vigil in unsolved murder

Published 9:40 pm Saturday, May 9, 2015

A candle light vigil will be held Thursday for a woman who was shot and killed in March in hopes that someone will come forward with information about the case.

Family members of Taffine Berry, who was killed March 14 outside a lounge on Marie Foster Street, have organized a vigil at the site where she was shot. The vigil will begin at 7 p.m. near the intersection of Marie Foster and L.L. Anderson Street.

Berry’s death has taken a tremendous toll on her family, according to her cousin Lucretia Smith.

Email newsletter signup

“The family hasn’t had peace with the fact we haven’t found out who did this to my cousin,” she said. “I don’t want this to die. I want to get the word out there for people who know anything. They can come forward, at least for her kids.”

Family and friends of Berry will reflect on the memories they shared with her.

“The more we talk about it, the more it helps us deal with it,” Smith said. “Everybody has their own individual memories of her.”

Berry’s husband, Tra Berry, was with her when she was killed.

Police believe the Berrys weren’t the intended targets and were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“We don’t believe there is a connection with the victims and the shooters, and we don’t believe that it was a random shooting either,” Lt. Curtis Muhannad said. “We believe that it is a possibility that there was someone outside of that lounge that the shooters were targeting, but we don’t know that for sure yet.”

Mr. Berry was seriously injured with a gunshot wound to his left leg.

“We can try to get some kind of justice or some kind of answer,” Berry said. “Maybe somebody in the community has seen something that can actually bring light to this case.”

He said the vigil won’t bring any closure for him, but it would be beneficial in helping solve the case.

“If we have the vigil it might bring the community together, and someone will step up with some kind of answer,” he said.