Fashion model, entrepreneur dies in Philadelphia shootout; Grandmother pleas for help

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A triple shooting from two years ago left an aspiring entrepreneur dead and two others injured.

Now, a grieving grandmother is making a plea for help in finding her granddaughter's killer.

Saundra Atwell asked Action News to hide her face when she talked about her late granddaughter, Chaundrah Jones.

She says the 24-year-old was at a wonderful place in her life.

"She was a fashion model. She was an entrepreneur with her own business and she was a happy mom of two little boys," said Atwell.

Atwell says in the early morning hours on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, Jones was out with friends.

"They were celebrating someone's birthday, and they decided to go from one location to another," she recalled.

Atwell says her granddaughter was driving her Volkswagen SUV along the 2000 block of North 33rd Street in Philadelphia's Strawberry Mansion section.

At about 2:20 a.m., Atwell says Jones had stopped her car, and that's when several suspects ran up and opened fire.

"Just began shooting up her car, herself, her passenger, and people in it, and three cars that were behind them," said Atwell.

Police found a second shooting scene four blocks away at North 33rd and Monument streets.

Jones died at the hospital. The two women passengers suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

The City of Philadelphia is offering up to $20,000 in reward money for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.

All you have to do is call the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS. All calls will remain anonymous.

"It was hard not to be happy in Chaundrah's presence and that's what we miss about her," said Atwell.