A stray bullet hit and killed a mother of two in Willowbrook and police have yet to have anyone in custody related to this crime.

“She was a cool, loving person. She had kids,” said her brother. 

Speaking now in the passed-tense for his big sister, Dorothea Mercer.

“She was joyful, always having fun, always smiling,” he added.

Another family in Willowbrook is grieving over an unsolved murder: this time, near 132nd Street and Jarvis Avenue.

“We heard some gunshots and stuff like that. I jumped out of my bed and looked outside,” the brother said.

He didn’t want to share his name, and he tried hard to hide the pain of what he remembers of that Tuesday night.

“My sister was on the bed, she was just bleeding, you know what I mean? So I called 911, and they were telling me to do CPR over the phone and try to revive her, stuff like that. I’m trying and trying and nervous at the same time,” he recalled.

Witnesses said that there was something happening Tuesday night as a group gathered in the parking lot now visibly covered with some candles. Someone else had passed away from an unrelated incident and in that group of people a fight broke out and bullets started to fly over the parking area and towards the apartments.

“She was looking out the window to see what was going on and a bullet came through the window and hit her,” her brother said.

Sheriff homicide detectives are investigating the case but have yet to make an arrest, even with so many people who potentially witnessed it — a code of silence in South LA this family hopes will break.

“It’s senseless man, I don’t know what’s going on,” the brother stated. “Every day it’s a different person dying over something senseless, you know?”

A GoFundMe account hopes to raise money for burial expenses and the two young daughters left behind. Beyond that, Dorothea’s family says they lean on their faith to get through.

“Just try to pray, keep prayers alive. Pray for the kids, pray for us, family and friends. Even for the people who did it, pray for them too.”