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Loved ones gather to remember 19-year-old woman gunned down inside her car
Sources say Nataja Boleware was in a car with a girlfriend of hers, when a Chrysler 300 with tinted windows pulled up and fired several shots at Lodewyck near East Warren.
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (FOX 2) - The family of a 19-year-old woman killed by gun violence came together in Highland Park to honor their loved one, and ask for anyone with information on the killer - to come forward.
It has been one week since Nataja Boleware was shot and killed. Balloons, music and hugs say what words cannot, if you ask her mother Earlene.
"I can’t even tell you how I’m feeling really," she said. "There’s no words to express how I’m feeling."
Sources say Nataja was in a car with a girlfriend of hers, when a Chrysler 300 with tinted windows pulled up and fired several shots at Lodewyck near East Warren.
The women tried driving away but crashed. Nataja died. Her friend got hurt.
Grieving family members have been virtually speechless, since.
"I would say that my daughter died, and it wasn’t her time," Earlene said. "She was, unfortunately, trying to assist someone else in supporting the situation they were going through, and it cost her, her life."
Nataja Boleware
There were so many things that she loved to do, her family said.
"She loved makeup. She loved dancing. She loved rapping. She loved singing. She loved being around others," her mother said. "She liked just making the people smile. She would feed the hungry with me, clothe people with me. That was what she did. That’s who she was."
"Sweetheart. Fun, the life of the party. Sweet, selfless. Cared about everybody else," said her brother, Michael Boleware.
Nataja’s mother works as a therapist helping those at risk of being involved with violence. Now she’s feeling a pain far too many families have endured across our area.
But as this crowd can attest, she’s not alone.
"I feel loved. I feel my support system. I thank God for," she said.
"I think we have released enough balloons for children in the city of Detroit, Highland Park," said Dani Hourani, a family friend.
The family posted a GoFundMe page to raise money for a reward for information that brings her killer to justice.
"My niece did not deserve this, at all," said Fanisha Boleware, Nataja's aunt. "Period."
If you have any information on Boleware's murder contact Detroit police at 313-267-4600 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP, where you never have to leave your name.
Nataja Boleware and her mother.