Houston woman's trip turns fatal after parking lot shooting

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A young Houston woman's life was taken away in an instant when someone started shooting into a packed crowd outside an Atlanta bar.

"At the moment, our family is broken," says Marcus Stallings.

Stallings' cousin, Taylor Hayden, was caught in the crossfire of a gun fight over the weekend. She was the only person in the crowded parking lot who was hit.

She died en route to the hospital. Stallings calls her a real-life angel.

"You could cry, laugh, say hey let's go out I just don't want to be around somebody. She was that person that you knew you could have a safe haven in," he says.

The 25-year old graduated from Prairie View A&M last year. She moved home to suburban Minneapolis after graduation, but her brother, Minnesota State Senator Jeffrey Hayden tells us she couldn't wait to move back to Houston.

"She just decided when she stayed here for about a year that really she wanted to make a home in Houston. She liked it there. She liked y'all. She liked the people. She liked the culture," he told us over FaceTime.

Taylor moved back to Houston for a job a few months ago. She lived in the Spring area with family until recently. She'd just moved into her own apartment before this girls' trip to Atlanta she'd been looking forward to.

Taylor was Brandi Hairston's best friend. She dropped her off at the airport for the trip.

"If we were ever going to separate, it's a hug or an 'I love you girl'. So we did that, not thinking I'm not ever going to see you again or this is going to be the last time I get to hug you," she tells us.

Taylor was a committed member of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, where her grandfather is a deacon. Her family is comforted knowing she lived the best life she knew how.

"She was God-loving, so we know she's in heaven," her brother says. "She really loved the lord. She loved her family."

"Her impact with me was just to be better. I feel like now that she's gone, I have to be better because that's what she would've wanted for me personally," adds Hairston.

She will be laid to rest Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota.