Asia Davis got a special gift on Mother’s Day in 2017: her first and only child, Myles Karter Davis. She wanted everything to be perfect for her daughter. Asia called her own mother nonstop to make sure she was doing everything just right. As Myles got older, Asia took her to get her hair and nails done regularly, dressing her up as if she was her own personal baby doll. Asia loved to look beautiful, and so did Myles.

Six years after she was born, Myles’ birthday would fall on Mother’s Day again. But Asia would not be there to celebrate.

The 28-year-old had been working as a nursing assistant and lived in her own apartment in New Orleans East. Asia had overcome many obstacles, and she was just getting to a good place in her life, said her mother, Kenya Davis.

Shortly after Asia put her daughter on the school bus on May 11, her boyfriend, Henry Talley Jr., allegedly shot and killed her. Witnesses said that Myles’ bus had left, but a news photo shows another school bus passing the crime scene. A child peers out of the window, overlooking the curtain officers placed to shield Asia’s body from view.

Now, 6-year-old Myles is left without her mother. And Kenya Davis is left to raise her granddaughter while grieving her only daughter.

“It’s so hard for me to put one foot in front of the other, and it’s hard for me to get up some days. But I keep going for my granddaughter,” Davis said. “That’s what I’ve got left of my daughter … it tears my heart up to know how affected she is.”

Asia was one of nine women killed in New Orleans in less than seven weeks between April 20 and June 2. All of them were Black and victims of gun violence. Eight of them were mothers. Some of them, like 33-year-old Sully Simmons, were killed in front of their children.

Read the full article about gun violence against Black women by Daja E. Henry at The 19th.