JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The mother of a 16-year-old girl killed more than a decade ago will lead a march through the Mixon Town neighborhood on Monday morning.
Tiphne Hollis was killed on March 20, 2010, in a drive-by shooting on Calvin Street while riding in a car with her cousins and friends. Her killer is still on the run 12 years later.
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Her mother, Shanda Whitaker-Ward, said the case has gone cold but that has not stopped her from searching for justice for her daughter.
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The memory of that day still haunts Whitaker-Ward.
“I came out here, the police, everybody was everywhere. I asked where my daughter was at, and they said, ‘They rushed her to the hospital. She has been shot,’” " Whitaker-Ward recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ That’s the worst thing a mother can go through.”
When Tiphne was first killed, Whitaker-Ward would walk the street where she was killed on the 20th of every month, but she stopped four years ago.
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“What made me start back doing the walk is because one of my close friends lost her son, and I just wanted her to know and all the other mothers who have lost their children that we have to build a voice for our kids,” Whitaker-Ward said. “We have to be an advocate, especially if the case is unsolved.”
Whitaker-Ward said she hasn’t heard anything about her daughter’s case in seven years but wants people to remember the goodness that was in Tiphne.
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“I know my daughter is gone, but I also ask God at least could we get her case to be solved while we’re on Earth,” Whitaker-Ward said. “That’s why I continue to reach out to my foundation, reach out to parents who go through this. It’s not easy. I mean, it’s, you know, it’s no words for it. No words.”
Whitaker-Ward started the Tiphne Darshay Hollis Foundation and opened a school in Tiphne’s memory. She said the goal is to help steer kids away from crime.
Tiphne would have been 28 years old today.
If you have any information about the fatal shooting, call JSO at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS.