Kaylyn Pryor had left her grandmother's home in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood after a visit and was on her way to catch a bus home to Evanston. She was getting ready to interview for a job at a Victoria's Secret store and, as an aspiring model, wanted to look her best. 
 
 A few minutes later, Pryor's grandmother, Jo Ann Scott, heard gunshots, and a neighbor came to her door to tell her that Pryor had been shot. 
 
 "I just about dropped to the floor," Scott said. She and her husband raced to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, but by the time they arrived, Pryor "was already gone," and her parents were inconsolable, Scott said, sobbing. 
 
 "It's just terribly, terribly sad. She was lively. Everybody loved her," Scott said. 
 
 Pryor, 20, and a 15-year-old boy were on a sidewalk in the 7300 block of South May Street about 6:20 p.m. Monday when someone in a passing dark-colored SUV fired shots, hitting them, said Anthony Guglielmi a spokesman for the Chicago police. 
 
 Pryor was shot under her right arm; the teen was struck in the groin area and remained in critical condition late Tuesday at Christ, police said. 
 
 Guglielmi called Pryor an "unintended target" of gunfire. 
 
 "It's an unspeakable tragedy," he said. "It really demonstrates why we need to do something about gun violence here in Chicago. We really need to come together as a city and come up with some solutions." 
 
 Kaylyn Pryor, a 20-year-old model who won the "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition in September, was shot and killed Nov. 2, 2015. Pryor, of the 400 block of Callan Avenue in Evanston, was shot near 73rd and South May streets in Englewood. (Pioneer Press and Chicago Tribune) (Pioneer Press and Chicago Tribune) 
 
 No one is in custody, said police, who are exploring the possibility that the 15-year-old, whom Pryor did not know, was the intended target. 
 
 Just a few weeks ago, Pryor had won the "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition. She had competed with almost 500 other applicants over several months, getting makeovers and runway lessons, leading up to a fashion show in Chicago on Sept. 25. She was featured in newspaper stories as a rising star. 
 
 Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas, which sponsored the contest, released a statement from its namesake founder: 
 
 "We are saddened and broken-hearted to learn of the tragic passing of Kaylyn Pryor. Our hearts and prayers go out to her family. 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." 
 
 Pryor's father, Alan "Nick" Scott, said he was numb as he spoke about his daughter as relatives gathered to grieve together at the family's house in Evanston. 
 
 His daughter had graduated from Evanston Township High School, where she had been a cheerleader and a member of the soccer and track teams, he said. She had begun attending Robert Morris University Illinois to get a degree as a paralegal. She had also just signed a contract with Factor Women, a professional modeling agency, Scott said. 
 
 Kasia Koniar, who works with the Factor Women agency, said Pryor "stole our hearts" when she met with the agency for an initial interview. 
 
 "We fell in love with her spirit and positive energy, and had to work with her," Koniar said in an email. "This is a terrible loss!" 
 
 Scott grew up in his parents' home in Englewood but moved to Evanston with Kaylyn and her sister Chantal when they were young, in part to get away from violence. He said he'd been bothered by the shooting death of a 9-year-old boy earlier the same day, about 2 miles from where his daughter was shot. 
 
 Despite gang problems in the area, his parents' block had always remained quiet, Scott said. His daughter often used public transportation to travel between the homes in Evanston and Englewood without any problem, he added, and she was well-known in the neighborhood because she stopped to play with the kids there. 
 
 "Everybody loved her, not just her peers but little kids," Scott said. "What an unbelievable spirit she had. She was a naturally gifted artist. She won a modeling contest. ... She could do anything she set her mind to." 
 
 Jo Ann Scott said she knows Englewood's reputation as a violent place. 
 
 "Englewood is not all bad. It's not. But you know, it's just unfortunate that you've got some bad elements around here," she said. Scott said she and her husband "tried to keep the riffraff off the block," but gang members hang out on the neighboring block, sometimes in wheelchairs, apparently with nothing to do. 
 
 Pryor's mother, Royce Pryor, of Chicago, said she hoped whoever was responsible will be brought to justice. She spoke of how much her daughter accomplished in 20 years. 
 
 "She was an inspiration," Royce Pryor said. "If you were down, she always had kind words to uplift you." 
 
 Kaylyn Pryor took lessons in several forms of dance and was known for her impression of Josephine Baker. Besides attending classes, Pryor worked two jobs, at a popcorn shop in Old Orchard Mall, and at the Chicago Bears gift shop at Soldier Field, her mother said. 
 
 In an interview with Tribune-owned Pioneer Press last month, shortly after she was announced as the contest winner, Pryor said she grew up a tomboy who was interested in sports and "didn't wear dresses and heels and stuff until I got older and started to develop more into the girlie world." 
 
 Pryor, whose friends and family encouraged her to enter the contest, said she had done a small amount of modeling before and hoped that winning the contest would lead to a contract and more work. 
 
 "You know, I always say the future is unwritten. You never know what will happen. You can never tell how far anything will go. But as long as you remain humble and stay positive, there are so many options that could work out for you," she said. "So, I really don't have any set goal right now." 
 
 Pryor's death generated an online outcry from those who knew her, demanding that people stop the violence plaguing the area. 
 
 Pryor's cheerleading coach at Evanston, Crystal Malone, recalled when Pryor attended a cheerleading camp. When the girls came back from a break, someone played Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and Pryor started acting out the dance from the music video. 
 
 Soon, the entire group of 50 or so girls got up to dance behind her. 
 
 "She brought tons and tons of energy that was really infectious," Malone said. "She was just a really spunky, bubbly kid." 
 
 rsobol@tribpub.com 
 
 rmccoppin@tribpub.com ||||| Kaylyn Pryor, the winner of Mario Tricoci’s 2015 "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition, was shot to death in Chicago Monday. NBC 5's Dick Johnson reports. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015) 
 
 A young Chicago woman was shot to death Monday, just weeks after being crowned winner of a renowned modeling contest and only blocks from where a 9-year-old boy was gunned down hours earlier. 
 
 Kaylyn Pryor, winner of Mario Tricoci’s 2015 "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition, was standing outside with a 15-year-old boy in the 7300 block of South May Street around 6:20 p.m. Monday in the city’s Englewood neighborhood when a vehicle pulled up and opened fire, according to police. 
 
 Both 20-year-old Pryor and the boy were shot, police said, and the car drove off. The two were rushed to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where the teen survived and is in critical condition, police said. Pryor was pronounced dead. Police said Pryor’s fatal gunshot wound was a hit to the right armpit, while the teen was struck in the scrotum. 
 
 Pryor’s father told NBC 5 his daughter was leaving her grandparents’ house in the neighborhood and walking to the bus stop to travel back to their Evanston home to sign a modeling contract at the time of the shooting. He said the teen she was with was not a close friend and just a boy from the neighborhood. 
 
 Winner of Modeling Contest Shot to Death in Chicago 
 
 Kaylyn Pryor, winner of Mario Tricoci's 2015 "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition, was shot to death in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood Monday evening. NBC 5's Michelle Relerford reports. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015) 
 
 "I didn't know she had died. It really took me a while to get to the hospital," her father Alan Scott said. "I just hoped and prayed it wasn't so bad." 
 
 Police do not believe Pryor was the intended target in the shooting, but it is likely the gunfire was in some way gang-related. It is still unclear if the teen she was standing with at the time of the shooting had ties to a gang, police said, or if he was intentionally targeted. 
 
 Her death comes just over a month after the Evanston native was crowned winner of a modeling contest, which ended with a Sept. 25 celebration and fashion show at the Redmoon Warehouse in Chicago, with more than 1,000 supporters and fans in attendance. 
 
 The man behind the contest, Italian native Mario Tricoci, began his fashion and beauty career in Europe before sweeping the Chicago-area with his first salon in Villa Park, Illinois. He now has more than 13 salons and day spas throughout the city and suburbs. 
 
 “We are saddened and broken-hearted to learn of the tragic passing of Kaylyn Pryor. Our hearts and prayers go out to her family," Tricoci said in a statement Tuesday morning. "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.” 
 
 According to her profile on the annual contest's website, Pryor enjoyed dancing, choreography, poetry and drawing, in addition to modeling. Her grief-stricken father, still coming to terms with his daughter’s death, said her recent contest win was just one of the many things his bubbly, energetic daughter was looking forward to in her bright future. 
 
 Modeling was something that came natural to the ambitious woman, he said, and was unexpected. She never took classes but stumbled upon Tricoci’s contest and decided to enter, ultimately garnering enough votes to take home the grand prize. 
 
 Following the win, Pryor signed with Factor Modeling Agency and was going to school at Robert Morris University’s Illinois campus with her sights set on becoming a paralegal. 
 
 "Everyone loved her," he said, citing her infectious and warm personality that drew others in. 
 
 Exclusive Chicago Activists Target Suburban Flow of Guns 
 
 Hundreds took to social media Tuesday morning to express despair over her sudden passing. 
 
 "So sad that she dies from senseless gun violence when just weeks ago she won this bright promising modeling," one tweet read. 
 
 "I honestly can not fathom a reason that a person can take another person's life. I'm sick," said another. "Rip Kaylyn Pryor. You did not deserve this." 
 
 Child, 9, Dies After Being Shot Multiple Times in Chicago 
 
 A 9-year-old died after being shot multiple times in the head and back in the neighborhood of Gresham on the South Side of Chicago Monday afternoon, officials said. NBC 5's Natalie Martinez reports. (Published Monday, Nov. 2, 2015) 
 
 The deadly shooting occurred less than two hours later and only blocks away from where a fourth-grader was shot and killed after coming home from elementary school. 
 
 "Gun violence in Chicago is not a joke," her sister Chantal Pryor said. "It's taking away all the innocent, talented kids and for what?" 
 
 "She's a gun violence statistic," her father said. 
 
 Just last week, President Barack Obama addressed the gun violence afflicting his hometown and urged cooperation between police officers and communities. 
 
 Obama listed statistics about lower crime rates nationwide, saying the crime rate across the country is now half of what it was 20 years ago - except in some cities, like Chicago, where violent crime has increased. 
 
 "I live on the South Side of Chicago, so my house is pretty close to some places where shootings take place," Obama said. "Because that's real, we have to get on top of it before it becomes an accelerating trend." 
 
 In September, the city saw one of its most violent months in years, with two consecutive weekends of more than 50 people shot. In a single day, on Sept. 2, nine people were killed and at least 12 others were wounded in shootings across the city, making it the deadliest day in the city in over a decade.
– "I always say the future is unwritten. You never know what will happen," Kaylyn Pryor said after accepting her trophy in Chicago on Sept. 25. An aspiring model, she beat out 500 applicants in a local modeling competition. Soon after, she signed with model agency Factor Women, and local media called her a rising star, reports the Chicago Tribune. Pryor, 20, hoped a job interview at a Victoria's Secret weeks later would help her get noticed, but she never got to the interview. Minutes after leaving her grandmother's house in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood on Monday, Pryor was hit by a bullet in an apparent drive-by shooting. When a neighbor told her grandmother, "I just about dropped to the floor," she says. She raced to Advocate Christ Medical Center, but Pryor "was already gone." No arrests have been made. Police say Pryor was on a sidewalk with a 15-year-old boy around 6:20pm when someone in a dark-colored SUV opened fire, hitting her. The teen—who Pryor's father says was not a close friend of his daughter—was shot in the scrotum and is in critical condition, reports NBC Chicago. Police are investigating whether the boy was the intended target—WGN reports he is "a documented gang member"—but say Pryor was an innocent bystander. "She was an inspiration," her mother says, while the sponsor of the modeling contest describes Pryor as "truly beautiful inside and out." "It's an unspeakable tragedy," a police rep adds. "It really demonstrates why we need to do something about gun violence here in Chicago. We really need to come together as a city and come up with some solutions." A 9-year-old boy was fatally shot in the city on Monday. (Chicago recently had its deadliest day in more than a decade.)