Alisia Dieudonne: 19-year-old college student from Chicago shot dead at N.C. house party
Alisia Dieudonne was a 19 year-old North Carolina college student who loved to dance.
So it made sense that she would be at a house party at her school, North Carolina A&T. But when her family back home in Chicago was contacted around 3 a.m. Saturday, October 2, 2016, they were shocked that their girl was present when a fight broke out and someone starting firing.
"Someone decided because they would not let them into the party to shoot and when they shot, they killed my child,” said Alisia's mother, Mary Dieudonne Hill, told Fox 32 Chicago.
Alisia was the youngest of five siblings, and they all went to college. She was baby girl and she would graduate, too. But not now.
In October, Dieudonne's family wanted something positive to come out of this tragedy, so they set up a scholarship fund in their Alisia's name. According to the GoFundMe page, its purpose is to "elp support another student in the college of engineering at North Carolina A&T in pursuit of a computer science degree. My family wants the world to know that Alisia was a brilliant and vibrant young lady that used her creativity on a daily basis to brighten the world around her. We want her legacy to continue on and never come to an end. Thank you for your support,"
“She was smart and energetic," her stepfather told the Chicago Tribune. "She liked being a college student — she was a sophomore and even went to summer school to earn more credits,” he said. “It was very important to her. She was a hard worker. She cared a lot about how she did. She put forth a valiant effort ... like I said, she wanted to be successful.”
Alisia's body was found inside the house party with a gunshot wound. Another college student, 21-year-old Ahmad Campbell, was also shot, Greensboro police said.
The victim's mother said that she had become use to violence in Chicago, where the family lived. But that she didn't expect it down South, in North Carolina.
"She was popular, smart and all she wanted to do was make good on her education and be like her siblings," her mother told the Chicago Tribune. "She was the last one to finish college. She wanted to be like everyone else."
“I work in Englewood I have lost several of my students to this senseless violence that's plaguing our country,” she told Fox 32. “I wish this on no one.”
Hill said that if it's one thing she wanted people to know about her youngest daughter, it's that life life mattered.
“She would want you to know that she lived and I don't want her do die for nothing so we have to do something about this violence,” Hill told the TV station.
I just want whoever is responsible to be brought to justice and punished to the fullest extent of the law,” Dieudonne’s stepfather, James Hill III, told the Chicago Tribune. “She was no troublemaker. She was just a regular college kid. This could have happened anywhere ... but the reality is this shouldn’t have happened to anyone.”
Her brother said that he will really miss his sister come Christmas time.
"Every year, she was the one who made sure everyone had a present," Matthew Dieudonne, 22, told the Tribune. "Even the dog."
The student who held the party, 20-year-old Nicholas Jeffers, told the Tribune that when a fight broke out, he ordered everyone out. Then another one started outside the home. That's when he heard gunshots.
"I'm stunned because it didn't have to go this far," he told the Tribune.
The Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line is offering a reward up to $2,000 for information that leads to an arrest of the gunman.
