Anitra Holloman lost the love of her life to gun violence on the streets of Birmingham two years ago.
Four months pregnant at the time, Holloman, affectionately called ReRe by friends and family, stayed strong and forged ahead. She was determined to give her daughter, and herself, the best life possible.
She was winning.
At 21, Holloman was in college studying to become a teacher and still worked, all while being a doting single mom to Skilar.
All of her plans and dreams ended Saturday night when she was shot dead while waiting in line with friends to get into Hush lounge on Magnolia Avenue.
“My baby was shot four times,” said her grieving mother, Candance Kemp. “She didn’t stand a chance.”
“They just really broke my heart,’’ Kemp said.
Holloman was one of four people killed when gunmen opened fire in the heart of Five Points South, spraying more than 100 rounds – some fully automatic – into the crowd gathered in the popular entertainment district.
The shooting wounded 17 others, five of whom remain hospitalized.
“She was my best friend,’’ said Kemp, “my right hand.”
Holloman was a graduate of A.H. Parker High School and attended Lawson State Community College.
Demetris Silliman Jr., Holloman’s longtime sweetheart and Skilar’s father, was found shot to death on Oct. 11, 2022.
Birmingham police and fire medics responded at 1:30 a.m. that Tuesday to the 1100 block of Penfield Drive at the intersection of Zion City Road.
Silliman was found dead inside his black 2010 Chevrolet Impala off the roadway.
His killing remains unsolved.
“They were in love,’’ Kemp said. “They had been together for a long time.”
“My baby stayed strong,’’ she said. “She had their baby, and she was the best mom. She’s been taking care of their baby since then.”
While in college, Holloman worked at her family’s tax firm as a preparer and was studying to become a notary.
“She was very goal-driven,’’ Kemp said. “She said she wanted to be like her mom because I’m an entrepreneur myself.”
Anitra Holloman, a 21-year-old college student who was raising her daughter alone after her boyfriend’s 2022 shooting death, was killed in Birmingham’s Sept. 21 mass shooting.(Special to AL.com)
Though a Parker grad, Holloman was out Saturday night with friends celebrating a Jackson-Olin High School alumni event.
“She just happened to go that night,’’ Kemp said. “She was doing what 21-year-old girls do.”
Holloman and friends had just gotten to the line when the shots rang out.
Kemp said another victim – 27-year-old Tahj Booker – tried to shield Holloman from the bullets. Both died on the sidewalk.
Holloman’s sister just happened to get on Facebook and saw news of the shooting.
“I checked her (Holloman’s) location, and I saw that she was there,’’ Kemp said. “I instantly started calling her phone and she didn’t answer.”
“I just knew something was wrong,’’ she said, “because even if she was hiding (from the gunfire) she would have answered my call to tell me she was OK.”
1/19
Kemp called over and over as she rushed from their home to the crime scene.
“An officer told me to go to the hospital,’’ she said. “I waited there for a couple of hours and they told me they didn’t even have my baby at the hospital.”
She said she called three other hospitals to no avail, and then learned her worst fear had come true.
“They told us to go to the crime scene,’’ Kemp said. “She was still on the ground.”
Kemp saw a video of the shooting involving her daughter but didn’t actually see her body at the scene. “I didn’t want to see that,’’ she said.
Holloman was Kemp’s second born of five children, and her first-born daughter.
Holloman and Skilar lived with Kemp, and she can’t imagine a future without her.
“She told me she wasn’t ever leaving my home,’’ Kemp said, “and I told her she never had to.”
Skilar, who turned 1 in March, likely doesn’t grasp what happened, but she knows something isn’t right.
“She goes into their bedroom – they slept in the same bedroom – and keeps looking like, ‘Where’s my mama?’’ Kemp said. “Skilar slept under her mom’s bosom. She had to be right up under her.”
“I think she’s wondering why all these people are over here at our house,’’ she said. “I know that she can feel her mom is gone.”
“Usually, she is fussy when she wants her mom and she hasn’t been,’’ Kemp said, “so I don’t know if my daughter is holding on to her and keeping her calm. I honestly feel like she is.”
Anitra Holloman, a 21-year-old college student who was raising her daughter alone after her boyfriend’s 2022 shooting death, was killed in Birmingham’s Sept. 21 mass shooting.(Special to AL.com)
Kemp said Holloman was quiet, but still outgoing.
“When she went out with friends, she had fun, but she was very respectful,’’ she said. “She was so pretty and kept up with the latest fashion in clothing.”
“Everybody loved ReRe,’’ she said. “She was just that girl.”
Kemp said she wants her daughter to be remembered by her smile and her ambition.
“She loved very hard,’’ she said. “When she loved you, she loved and embraced who you are as a person.”
But most of all, she said, Holloman was a giver.
“She didn’t ever miss a gift for whatever holiday was special to me,’’ she said. “She always gave me memorable gifts like pictures of me and my kids, family photos. She’d make things for me.”
Kemp said she’s trying to stay calm and absorb the loss.
“It’s hit me a few times, but I haven’t had a chance to lay my eyes on my baby yet and that’s what’s going to hurt me the most,’’ she said.
“My mom has been here every step of the way and she’s going to help me through that process because I don’t want to see my baby girl like that.”
Given the chance, Kemp said she would ask the shooters just a couple of questions.
“Why?” she said. “Whoever you were targeting, why did you have to do it there with all of these innocent bystanders?
“Why do y’all have to have these switches on these guns?” Kemp said. “Just to say you have one and kill innocent people?”
A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered by the FBI and Crime Stoppers.
You can submit information to police here. You can also call investigators at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
