An aspiring rapper from Detroit, Michigan was found fatally shot in her Range Rover Sport SUV in the middle of an Atlanta street on Wednesday night.
Qualeisha Barnes, 36, was 14 weeks pregnant, her family said.
According to 11 Alive News, Barnes was found deceased in the front seat of her white SUV around 1:30 a.m. on Springfield Place SE Atlanta. Police believe the gunman shot Barnes from outside the SUV.
Barnes was known by her stage name “Siditty,” and she was the CEO of an online clothing boutique, So Siditty.
Barnes’ family and friends paid tribute to her in posts on social media.
“I know her as Qualeisha. I know her as LeLe. I know her as we, in the same house, in the same bed. That’s what I know her as. All that friend stuff, I don’t care about none of that. That was my sister. That was my baby,” said Shatara Davis, Barnes’ sister.
“Generally, if you met LeLe, you instantly loved her and she was such a jokester. She liked to laugh, and she was always cracking jokes on me,” said her mother, Francine Lopez-Stewart.
“She loved makeup. She loved dressing up. She loved beauty. She was siditty,” Lopez-Stewart added.
According to her loved ones, Barnes was well-known in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan. In addition to running her own clothing company, she was also a beloved rapper.
She was in nursing school and was set to graduate soon, the family said.
“She made the dean’s list. She had like two more semesters to go. She was so proud of herself, and we were so proud of her,” Lopez-Stewart said.
The family asked anyone with information to contact Atlanta police.
“If you instigate something that causes a murder, then you need some kind of, I mean, you need something. I think you need to go to jail too,” Lopez-Stewart said.
According to the family, Barnes lived in metro Atlanta for a decade.
