Single mom of three killed in drive-by not 'intended target'

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Those who loved her say 36-year-old Crystal Collins may have been petite, standing under five feet tall, but she made a big impact in the lives around her.

“She was a joy her laugh was infectious, her personality, she was everything,” says Collins’ sister Tyheesha Collins.

Where a memorial now grows at 30th and Newton Ave North is just across from Crystal’s house.  Saturday evening around 8 p.m., a group of more than a dozen people were hanging outside when someone drove by and started shooting.  Crystal was killed and two other men, including her cousin, showed up later at the hospital.

“We had just came from a family function and we were all here and having a good old time, “ says Tyheesha. “Wrong time wrong place.”

The day before the single mom of three was killed, Crystal posted on Facebook about her sadness over the two-year-old gunned down just a couple blocks from her house. 

Minneapolis City Council president Barb Johnson says those innocent lives, along with a grandmother recently killed waiting at stop light, and just this weekend a man in a motorized wheelchair fighting for his life after being shot at 15th and Nicolette, add up to far too many tragedies so far this summer.

“My understanding is this lady was not the intended victim,” said Johnson. “It's just absolutely intolerable. When we hear these things 'the general public is not at risk'… yes we are because this random shooting is going on in our community and it has to stop.”

Of the three teenage children Crystal leaves behind, two of them, including the youngest, a 14-year-old,  witnessed her mom's death. On their behalf, family is begging for anyone with information to talk to police.

“They lost their mom, they lost their way,” said Tyheesha.  “We lost our heart of the family.”