It has been almost six months since an act of senseless road rage claimed the life of 15-year-old Jada Rankin.
The sophomore at Sterling Heights High School spent her last moments of life at her grandmother's house on Ardmore near Schoolcraft and Grand River in Detroit last October. She was outside celebrating her brother’s birthday with family and friends. During the party she spoke with excitement about being elected to the homecoming court at school.
Then a driver sped by the house. A family member yelled at the driver to slow down. That driver responded by grabbing a gun and shooting into the party. Jada was shot in the abdomen and died.
“I’m angry,” said Piper Jenkins, Jada’s godmother. “She was a phenomenal kid.”
Whenever Jenkins works at her business, the Trendy Treatz Bakery on Seven Mile in Detroit, she thinks of the last time she saw Jada.
“It was three days before she died. She came into the bakery,” said Jenkins. “She said ‘Godmama, I am coming to get a cupcake.’ I said, ‘Where are you going?’ ‘I am going to get my hair done, but I want to stop in first to see you.’”
“Jada’s favorite cupcake was strawberry-lemonade,” said Jenkins. “…they’re not just cupcakes. I sell cupcakes everyday, but now they have a special meaning to me.”
On Saturday, Jenkins will sell cupcakes from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Trendy Treatz Bakery at 18927 West Seven Mile in Detroit. All money raised will be used to increase the reward offered for information that brings Jada’s killer to justice.
The hope is cupcakes could help catch a killer.
“If anyone knows anything, if they have heard anything - please speak up. Our family just wants closure,” said Jenkins.
The reward from CrimeStoppers is already at $2,500. If you have information that could help, the number to call is 1-800 SPEAK UP. All calls are anonymous.
