Chaire Walker Memorial

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A mother of eight was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon in Parkway Village while in her car on the phone with her friend and with some of her children in the backseat.

Memphis Police said around 6 p.m. that a woman was shot dead at a home in the 5000 block of Colewood Avenue. Family identified the victim to WREG as 35-year-old Chaire Walker, a mother of eight.

Walker's cousin Jarvis Fluker said she was chased and killed by someone she knew.

"Real hard. The whole family's tore up right now," Fluker said. "It's messed up. Not a way to bring the New Year in. Not a good New Year."

He said Walker was driving to a family member's house when someone she knew started chasing her, then shot her. She pulled over in front of a stranger's house screaming for help, only about 150 yards from her family's house.

Fluker said it's sickening for both him and Walker's friend, who she was on the phone with when the incident happened.

"She heard her screaming, but she heard two gunshots, and then she said she didn't hear nothing else," Fluker said.

Fluker said two of Walker’s children, a 5-month-old and a 1-year-old, were in the backseat when their mother was shot outside the car.

Police later said the shooting is believed to have started as a domestic situation between Walker and someone she knew, but they did not identify that person.

They said they believe Walker was trying to get away from her attacker when she stopped at the house on Colewood, but it's not known why because she didn't have a known connection to that address.

Police said the suspect is Michael Henderson a 5-foot-6 black man with dark complexion and a goatee. He was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans. The suspect possibly left the scene in a gray Nissan.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH