Cyra C. Magby was always smiling, kind and humble.
Magby was also shy and preferred to stay out of the limelight. She wasn’t a fan of getting her picture taken, but her smile was “picture perfect,” according to her mother.
The 19-year-old smiled often, whether she was playing basketball for Englewood STEM High School or on her PlayStation 4 playing Fortnite with her friends.
“She was always smiling, humble [and] quiet,” Erica Price, Magby’s mother, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “She was always kind to people. ... She lit up the room with her smile.”
Magby died about 20 minutes after someone in a silver SUV shot her, causing her to drive head-on into a car late Tuesday on the South Side.
“I’m really numb right now. [I] don’t know what to say anymore,” Price said.
About 11 p.m. Magby and her 19-year-old friend were traveling in her mom’s 2012 Chevrolet Malibu in the 800 block of West Garfield Boulevard.
Suddenly, a silver SUV approached and someone inside opened fire, Chicago police said.
Magby, who was shot in her back, sped away and swerved to avoid oncoming traffic but crashed head-on into a Volkswagen Jetta being driven by a 43-year-old Chicago man in the 5400 block of South Halsted, according to a police report. The silver SUV fled northbound.
Officers responding to the traffic crash found Magby lying in the street and unresponsive, and she was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 11:38 p.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office and police said.
“I don’t wish this pain on no mother,” Price said. “It’s indescribable to lose a child over something real senseless.”
Price last saw her daughter, a bagger at a downtown Mariano’s, early Tuesday when she helped clean glass from her mom’s truck after someone attempted to steal it, she recalleed. Her last words to her daughter were “thank you.”
“That was the last time I saw my baby,” Price said, her voice shaking.
Magby had four siblings and was the middle child among them. She often helped take care of her autistic brother, frequently picking him up from the school bus.
“She was just a great help around the house with her brother,” Price said.
Magby’s friend, a woman who was a passenger in the Malibu, suffered cuts to her face and was taken to the University of Chicago in serious condition, officials said. Her condition was stabilized.
The 43-year-old man and 40-year-old woman who were in the Jetta, which was northbound on Halsted, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Stroger Hospital where they were listed in good condition, officials said.
