SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Tonya Moore said she wants her daughter’s legacy to live on in photos of her smile and memories of her love and devotion to her family.
A gunman shot and killed her daughter, 21-year-old Kenesha Moore, Friday night on Tag Drive in Springfield Township. But Tonya says she doesn’t want this tragedy to define her daughter’s memory.
“My baby ... I don’t want her remembered as this tragedy. I want them to know my baby for who she was,” Tonya said.
Tonya said both she and her daughter knew the gunman. Police have not released information on a motive yet. The Moore family has started a GoFundMe account to raise $3,000 for funeral expenses.
Kenesha, a Fairfield High School graduate, had recently enrolled at Miami University, where she planned to study theatre.
“She told me she got into Miami University,” Tonya said. “I was at work. I was so ecstatic … I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Did you really?’ She sent me a copy of her schedule. I just, I couldn’t help but feel so much joy.”
Kenesha leaves behind five siblings. She was Tonya’s fourth-born and her first daughter.
“As a mother, she made my day,” Tonya said. “She text me every day. If she didn’t call, she’d text me. She loved her brothers and sisters. Her grandma, grandpa.”
Tonya says “people gravitated” toward her daughter’s outgoing personality and her strong will.
“I think she touched everybody’s heart,” Tonya said. “And she took a piece of mine.”
The gunman shot himself after officers ordered him to drop his handgun. He survived the shot, and paramedics took him to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The suspect's name and medical condition have not been released, and he's not been charged.
Funeral arrangements for Kenesha have not yet been decided.
