Milwaukee teenager killed was mother to seven-month-old: 'Zaniya was a beautiful soul'
At 17, Zaniya Booker had proudly taken on the role of parent to her own daughter and aspired to graduate high school in the next year. In the years that would follow, she was excited to possibly become a hairstylist and continue to raise her child.
But tragedy struck last week, when Booker was shot and killed on Wednesday on the 4400 block of North 28th Street in Milwaukee. Police said Monday they continued to seek a known suspect.
"Zaniya was a beautiful soul," her father Demetrius James said.
James described his daughter as a "people person" and "the biggest helper" he'd ever seen. Her aunt Dominque James, 40, said the teenager loved to spend time with family and friends, and enjoyed shopping and cooking as well.
She had a knack for content creation, especially on TikTok, and her other hobbies kept her out of trouble, he said.
Her main goal, however, was to finish high school in the next year, so she could focus on being a mother, Demetrius said. That's emblematic of the way she handled being a mother, as her aunt said she took the responsibility of being a mother seriously.
"That was her baby, that was her life," her aunt said. "She was an awesome mother to that baby."
The death comes at an already trying time for the family. Booker's mother suffered a stroke recently and has left James, 40, as her sole caretaker, leading to him leaving his job to do so.
Booker helped without complaint in caring for her mother, Demetrius said.
With his daughter's death, he's taken custody of his granddaughter and has a newborn child of his own as well.
"I'm trying to get through this the best I can," Demetrius said. "I just want to share my daughter's story."
Booker is among the seven reported homicides in Milwaukee so far in 2025, according to police data. The same day she was killed, a triple shooting killed a 22-year-old woman as well.
A GoFundMe for the Booker family can be found here.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee teenager killed was mother to seven-month-old daughter
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