WASHINGTON PARK — Deshawn Mapp was in his fourth-floor apartment in the Parkway Gardens complex Saturday night when he heard a commotion, then screaming and then police sirens.
A few feet from the entrance to his building, 16-year-old De'Kayla Dansberry had been fatally stabbed.
"I saw ... screaming, people were running away," Deshaun said. "I ran downstairs. I saw police on the sidewalk. They told me somebody got cut."
De'Kayla was stabbed once in her chest following a fight at 7:30 p.m. Saturday near the entrance to Parkway Gardens, 6400 S. King Dr, according to police. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
De'Kayla, a Johnson High School student and athlete, had dreams of making it out of the South Side and helping others, friends said. She was involved in the Swag the Runway program since 2013, where she learned modeling skills as well as conflict resolution.
"It hurts me so bad to find out that that is how she ended up passing," said SaRah Valentine, executive director of Swag the Runway. "De'Kayla was always talking about her future, she was always talking about how she loved where she lived but would always talk about how she would give back."
A memorial for the outgoing high school student was set up in a bed of flowers and plants, where her friends say De'Kayla died amid a frantic mass of young people and neighbors.
Friends of De'Kayla Dansberry visit a memorial for the 16-year-old girl Monday. [DNAinfo/Joe Ward]
Friends visiting the memorial Monday said she was a loyal and caring person who was smart and talented enough to go far.
"She was cool," Deshaun said. "She always wanted to know where we were at, what we were doing. She didn't even curse."
Deshaun and other friends of DeKayla said they heard the fight was between her and another girl and may have started due to a boy. But they said that didn't sound like DeKayla, who was more likely to have guys fighting over her, said Dennis Mapp, Deshaun's brother.
"She had everything going for her," Dennis said. "She was cute, she was on the track team, had trophies.
"It was jealousy," Dennis said of the reason for the fight that cost De'Kayla her life.
Police have questioned someone in the killing, but said the person was a witness and not a suspect. No one is in custody in relation to the killing, said Officer Laura Armezaga, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
De'Kayla lived with an older sister that was her guardian in the Parkway Gardens complex, a large public housing complex with a cluster of middle- and high-rise buildings.
Friends said an older relative of DeKayla had been fatally shot recently. One of her childhood neighbors was J-Quantae Riles, a 14-year-old boy shot and killed last summer.
J-Quantae's story made headlines because his mom had moved the family out of their Washington Park home but had moved back just before the murder.
"His momma tried to get him out, but he was just hanging with the wrong boys," Dennis said.
Despite neighbors having been recently involved in high-profile instances of violence, both Dennis and Deshaun said Parkway Gardens is not as dangerous as some might think.
"There's a lot of older people here actually," Deshaun said. "It's other people coming here, making the place look bad."
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