‘Forever cherished’: Family remembers loved one killed in latest Augusta shooting

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Five days ago, a shooting on East Taylor Street claimed the life of a young expectant mother and injured two others in the process.

One injured was an 11-year-old. Still, there are no suspects and not a lot of details about how the shooting happened.

We spoke with the young mom’s family Friday night, and they say this is not how her story was supposed to end.

Shaneikwa Lafavor was a sister, a daughter, and a mother, expecting her second baby girl, but on Monday, all of that changed in the blink of an eye.

“We loved her so much and you took a part of us, a part of me away,” said LaShawn Burns, mother of Lafavor.

They’re the words no mother wants to say.

“Burying my child is something that any mother shouldn’t have to go through,” said LaShawn.

Brasha Burns remembers the moment she was called to her sister’s home on East Taylor Street for a reality she never would’ve imagined.

“All I could do is scream; you know? Cause like never in a million years I’ll think like, you know, that’ll happen to me. You know what I’m saying? It’s my sister,” said Brasha.

Lafavor was an aspiring nurse, a mother to a four-year-old girl, and five months pregnant. She was ready to welcome her second child into the world.

LaShawn said: “She was so happy because she wanted another girl. She didn’t want a boy. She was very happy. We were planning on having her baby shower, but things turned the other way.”

LaShawn says senseless violence claimed the lives of her daughter and her grandchild, and injured two others, including an eleven-year-old child.

To stop the violence, she hopes people will say something if they see something so no one else has to go through the grief of burying their child.

“If anybody knows the person that does this kind of stuff and knows someone has a gun and has a bad temper that really doesn’t need a gun, say something to someone. Turn them in and tell them. I don’t think that person needs to have a gun,” said LaShawn.

Now Lafavor’s family says they’ll remember her for her feisty yet kind spirit who had plenty of life ahead of her.

“She will be forever cherished, and we forever get her memory,” said LaShawn.

The family will be holding a candlelight vigil Sunday in honor of Lafavor. News 12 plans to be there.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.