NOTTOWAY COUNTY, Va. -- Family identified Jaleah Crawley as the person who was shot and killed while riding in a car on Route 460 in Nottoway County on July 5.
Virginia State Police released some details about the crime, but has not yet positively identified Crawley as the shooting victim.
Those who knew Crawley described her as a bright soul who always carried a smile.
"She was very kind-hearted. Everybody that met her loved her," Jaleah's mother Angela Stokes said. "She brought joy to a lot of people."
Crawley, 25, was a daughter, sister, and the mother to a three-year-old son.
"She never met a stranger," Jaleah's friend Jarren Carter said.
"She was a magnificent person and you would love her immediately," another friend said.
"Even in kindergarten, children flocked to her as mother and a nurturing person because she took care of her classmates," Stokes said about her daughter. "She would stand up for people that were being mistreated, she was always friendly to everybody."
"It’s sad the way somebody took her. It's unfair," Stokes added.
Virginia State Police said at approximately 1:40 a.m., on Friday, July 5, someone fired into a Kia sedan traveling west on Route 460. The suspect vehicle then fled the scene.
"The driver of the Kia was not injured in the incident. The passenger in the Kia was shot and was transported to Southside Community Hospital in Farmville. The adult female passenger succumbed to her injuries later Friday morning," a Virginia State Police spokesperson said. "At this stage of the investigation, it appears this was an isolated incident and state police is following up on various leads at this time."
"We were just devastated because it’s like she didn’t have any enemies," friend Jarren Carter said. "I was more mad than anything and more upset for her son." said co-worker Jessica Noblin- Glasscock.
Friends and family have flooded social media, expressing shock and heartbroken that someone so kind was taken so soon.
"Every interaction that we had, me and her personally, the conversation ended with a smile," Carter said. "She would ask you specifically, how's that going or how's that cousin or how this sister, how are they doing, she would customize every conversation she had."
A light in the lives of so many, her mother says the deep love Jaleah had for others, especially her toddler son, will truly be missed.
Stokes said she hoped to see justice served for someone who meant so much to the community.
"So I hope that anybody that knows anything that can bring justice to my daughter because that’s what she deserves," Stokes said. "She didn't deserve what she got but she does deserve justice for what she got."
If you would like to donate toward a trust fund for Jaleah's 3-year-old son, please click here.
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