Evanston aspiring model killed, teenager injured in Chicago shooting

Julia Jacobs, City Editor

An Evanston woman who won a renowned Chicago-area modeling competition this year was killed and a 15-year-old boy was critically injured Monday in a drive-by shooting on Chicago’s South Side.

Kaylyn Pryor was standing with the teenage boy at about 6:20 p.m. in the 7300 block of South May in the Englewood neighborhood when someone drove by and shot them, Chicago police said. Pryor, 20, was shot in the right armpit and was later pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois.

The teenage boy, who was shot in the groin, was transported to the medical center in critical condition, police said.

Police said the drive-by shooting has possible ties to gang violence, but the Evanston woman was not the intended target of the shooting. Police are unsure whether the teenager has gang ties or was the intended target.

Pryor, a 2013 graduate of Evanston Township High School, won the Mario Tricoci “Make Me a Model” contest this year.

“We are saddened and broken-hearted to learn of the tragic passing of Kaylyn Pryor,” the Mario Tricoci modeling competition said in a statement. “This touches every one of us who knew and worked with her. Kaylyn will be remembered for her kind and generous spirit. She truly was beautiful inside and out.”

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