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‘She was loved’: Loved ones hold vigil for Jacksonville mother of 4 shot and killed at gas station

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Friends and family are mourning the loss of Tayda Smith, the 28-year-old mother of four who was shot and killed at a gas station in Northwest Jacksonville. On Thursday a vigil was held and over 50 total people showed up to the parking lot and gas pump where police say she was killed early Sunday morning.

Action News Jax is told it goes to show just how much she was loved, saying she was the kindest person and can’t imagine who would do something like this. Friends and family say she will be remembered for her smile, laugh, and love for her kids.

“This definitely shows her character, she was the sweetest everybody loved Tayda,” her cousin Conisha Mason said.

Mason holds a photo of her, Smith, and other family and friends close to her as it was taken a short time before she was killed.

Mason said she was out with Smith celebrating a birthday the night it happened.

“We were heading to our next destination, I parked my car and waited for everybody else to get out of their cars when we got the news, we thought she was behind us but she stopped,” Mason said.

Mason said once they all left, Smith stopped for gas.

“Caught in the crossfire, definitely don’t believe she was the intended target,” Mason said. “Tayda was uplifting, she was loved, she was kind and nobody would want to hurt Tayda.”

Smith leaves behind four daughters and dozens of loved ones. Her murder is unsolved, Mason as well as close family friend Elaine Biggins is hoping whoever is responsible comes forward.

“She has four kids, four daughters that she loved, she adored and they took her away from that,” Biggins said.

For Mason and the entire family, who we’re told is incredibly close-knit, they say they will all remember the kind loving person she was.

“Only thing is we can remember her smile, her laugh her talk because she was so loud everybody knows it,” Mason said.

Family friends say whoever did this is a heartless person. Police ask if you know anything about the shooting to give them a call.

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