Photo Courtesy of Tribune Chronicle
A family is searching for justice after their beloved matriarch died from a bullet to the back while planning her son’s funeral with family members on Sunday in Warren, Ohio.
The Tribune Chronicle reported that Ruth “Mama” Lewis, 89, was in her wheelchair inside a relative’s living room when the family heard a hail of shots firing. A bullet shattered the window, striking the wheelchair-bound woman.
The Ohio woman used the wheelchair after suffering from a stroke and car crash in 2001, but was still full of life, her family told the publication.
Lewis’ family is at a loss for why someone would shoot at the house. Police haven’t released any details regarding the shooting.
“We don’t know why she is dead today; we don’t have those answers,” her daughter, Andrea Daniels Talbott, told the news outlet.
According to the Tribune Chronicle, police received numerous phone calls around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, after witnesses heard gunshots. An unknown caller told police that two vehicles were driving recklessly toward the home when she heard gunfire. One of the calls to police was from a frantic family member after they realized Lewis had been hit. She was unconscious and didn’t appear to be breathing.
“Oh god, oh god,” the matriarch’s granddaughter cried out.
“She was full of life. My mom was full of life,” Patricia Lewis Mallory told the Tribune Chronicle. “She managed to smile through all of that hurt.”
“She was in a wheelchair; she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t talk. But she still managed to show that beautiful smile,” the grieving daughter explained.
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The esteemed matriarch was well-known around the city. She and her late husband Robert Lewis founded R&R BBQ, and she even owned a beauty salon named Magic Mirror.
The woman’s family of roughly 150 people consisted of four generations of loved ones reeling over the loss. Her family affectionately called her “Mama.” Lewis was also an evangelist.
Shachara Lewis, 30, told the Tribune Chronicle that Lewis encouraged family members to start their own businesses.
“She motivated all of us,” Shachara Lewis said. “She showed us that we can be something; as black people, she taught us to never give up and don’t allow people to stereotype us. She taught us to be our own bosses. She is always there with you, spiritually, even when she wasn’t there in person.”
Another family chimed on what Lewis meant to her family and community.
“She was a strong, strong woman,” Lewis Mallory expressed to the news outlet. “She taught us to be strong.”
She was a “pillar of the community,” he continued. “If people didn’t have a place to go, she would take them in. When someone said they didn’t have any food and were hungry, she fed them. When they needed a prayer, she prayed with them. When people had children with problems, they would come to her and ask her how to deal with it. And she would help them with the problems.”
Police have yet to find any suspects involved in the tragic shooting, but the woman’s family wants justice –“now.