At 20, Ishma Stewart was already focused on fulfilling dreams. After graduating from Oak Park and River Forest High school in 2005 as a junior, she was set to graduate with honors from Loyola University in December-six months early-with a degree in journalism.
“She was on her way,” said her stepfather, Damien Polk, who said Ishma had been busy recently applying for journalism internships.
Ishma’s promising journey ended suddenly late Sunday night when an unknown gunman pulled up alongside her car at 48th and Indiana on Chicago’s South Side and shot her multiple times. She was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds at nearby Provident Hospital a short time later.
Chicago police said Monday the case was “an active, ongoing investigation.” Media reports Tuesday said police speculate the shooting may have been related to a series of shootings in the area that night.
“No one is in custody,” said Officer John Mirabelli.
Ishma’s family said police told them Sunday night that the shooting appeared to be random. Monday afternoon in Oak Park, her family was struggling to absorb the death of an intelligent, charismatic young woman, driven to succeed.
“She was here last night for a while with her mom,” said Ishma’s aunt, Keeley Searles-Walls. About 9 p.m. Sunday, Ishma left to return to the 5000 block of South Drexel, where she’d recently moved after living with her family on the 1150 block of South Ridgeland Avenue.
Polk said his step-daughter was dynamic and self-sufficient-she had put herself through college and worked to be able to afford a car-with many interests.
“She had a lot of friends and did a lot of things at the high school,” he said. “She was academically driven to succeed.”
OPRF teacher Peter Kahn, who teaches spoken word poetry, recalled Ishma as a very talented writer, “a fabulous kid, someone very engaged, very determined,” who always seemed happy to be in class.
“She was the one person in class I knew I could count on to have read the work and be ready to discuss it,” he said.
Kahn said her death leaves a void.
“It’s always tragic when a young person dies. But this is tragic on a level that,” he said, hesitating. “It feels like she was someone who would have been a real leader.”