KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A family is searching for answers and justice after someone shot and killed 43-year-old Aisha Cates early Sunday morning.
Cates is the 31st person killed to gun violence in Knoxville in 2021.
"I love her. I miss my baby. I hope justice gets served because it's only right - she did not deserve this," Cate's aunt Erica Sawyer said.
Around 3:15 a.m. Sunday, Knoxville police officers responded to a shooting at Walter P. Taylor Homes near McConnell Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. When they arrived, officers said Cates had been shot and was not responding. She was later pronounced dead at UT Medical Center.
Witnesses said someone in a vehicle drove by and fired a shot before speeding off.
The East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers identified a potential suspect in Cates' murder: a man by the name of Vincent Morrison. The organization said he is known to travel between Knoxville and Atlanta, and that he is wanted for aggravated assault for shooting at his fiancé on March 5.
He family said they want justice and hope someone saw what happened and will come forward.
"You can't just sit back and say, 'Oh, I'm just gonna turn a blind eye to this,' because you may be turning a blind eye on something today. Who knows, you could wake up tomorrow and it happens to someone in your family," Cates' cousin Fallum Martin said.
Cates' family said she was was a mother, sister, aunt and daughter who had a big smile and a lot of love for just about anyone.
"Aisha...Aisha...she is the most loving, kind-heartedness kid. She would give you the shirt off of her back," Sawyer said.
As her family mourns and remembers the joy Cates brought to their lives, they are pleading for solutions to end the violence.
"She didn't deserve it. She honestly didn't deserve any of this," Martin said. "I just hope God can get us all through this."
Anyone with information is urged contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1-800-222-8477, online at www.easttnvalleycrimestoppers.org or via the P3 Tips mobile app.