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Woman killed by stray bullet in St. Pete shooting was a nursing assistant, mother of 5

 
A St. Petersburg woman was killed by a stray bullet, police said, while sitting on her porch at 2000 45th St S, the tan house on the right. [LANGSTON TAYLOR   |   Staff]
A St. Petersburg woman was killed by a stray bullet, police said, while sitting on her porch at 2000 45th St S, the tan house on the right. [LANGSTON TAYLOR | Staff]
Published Nov. 12, 2018

ST. PETERSBURG — Octavious Keys woke up Sunday morning to screams.

He got out of bed and ran to the front door. His girlfriend, who had been eating Trix cereal moments before, was lying across the front porch. He could see that she had been shot in the stomach.

Aesha Kendrick, 38, fell victim to a shooter who was firing at another target, St. Petersburg police said. Her death left family members reeling Monday and her five children, ages 1 to 17, without a mother.

"It took the family and turned it upside down," said her cousin, Sampson Jordan. "I wouldn't even wish this on the guy's family that did it."

Officers arrested Jamel Walker, 29, Sunday evening. He faces charges of second-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and several drug possession charges. He remained in the Pinellas County Jail on Monday with no bail.

Walker fired several rounds from a handgun at a passing vehicle just after 10 a.m. Sunday, according to police. A stray bullet hit Kendrick as she was eating breakfast on the front porch of her home at 2000 45th St. S.

Police withheld the name of the intended target, citing confidentiality laws.

A neighbor performed CPR on Kendrick. She later died at Bayfront Health St. Petersburg.

Several children were inside the home, but none of them were hurt, police said.

Relatives of Kendrick and Keys, 32, gathered at the couple's home Monday to remember her. She worked as a certified nursing assistant and was supposed to start a new job Monday. She liked the job. It suited her "because she gets to help people," said her older brother, Antonio Pettis, 49.

The new position would allow her to spend more time with her kids, Keys said, a move from the night shift to an early morning shift.

Her children were her life, Keys said as their 1-year-old, Octavious, played in the living room. She spent time watching cartoon movies with them and taking them to the park. The couple, together four or five years, planned to marry.

"Every day was a good one," Keys said.

The family has told the younger ones that their mother wouldn't be coming back. They didn't go into details.

"It's going to be hard to tell them," Keys said.

Jordan, 43, said she had been hanging out with her cousin and Keys the night before, talking about recent violence in St. Petersburg.

In September, a 19-year-old was found shot dead in an alley at 13th Avenue S near Martin Luther King Jr. Street. Just two weeks later, a man and a woman were shot to death in an alley on 14th Avenue S near 16th Street. Days after that, a 58-year-old man was found shot in the road along Ninth Place S. He later died.

Just two weeks ago, Christina Veronica Rush, 27, was shot in a backyard in the 1000 block of 15th Avenue S. She later died at a hospital.

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The cousins discussed the deaths "not knowing what we were talking about was going to happen to one of us," Jordan said, "or that that was the last time I was going to see her."

Contact Kathryn Varn at kvarn@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8913. Follow @kathrynvarn.