MINNEAPOLIS — Time doesn’t erase pain.
Joyce Hayden remembers the news that changed the course of her family’s life.
“Taylor was grabbed by this person to use as a human shield that night,” she said. “Two bullets shot and she got both bullets and died at the scene.”
Her daughter, Taylor Hayden, was shot and killed while on a girls trip in Atlanta nearly four years ago on July 23. Taylor, 25, was waiting for an Uber.
Taylor was Minnesota State Senator Jeff Hayden‘s sister.
Following her death, Hayden introduced legislation called the Taylor Hayden gun Violence Prevention Act. It passed in the Senate but failed in the House. It would have awarded grants to nonprofit organizations with expertise in violence prevention.
Joyce Hayden says legislation is needed now more than ever.
“Adrienne, you’re probably hearing it faster than I am about how many people are being shot and killed on a daily basis just right here in the Twin Cities. That is an issue we have to attack,” she said Thursday. “It is a public health crisis and we are determined to put it to the forefront so people understand it as a public health crisis.”
As the Hayden’s fight for change, they reflect on the good.
“Taylor would always be the first to text happy birthday, Happy Anniversary or Happy Mother’s Day or Happ Father’s Day. At 12:01 you can count on it,” she said.
And when Taylor couldn’t celebrate her parents in person she took the virtual route. During a Senate hearing outlining the legislation introduced by Sen. Hayden, a video Taylor sent her father congratulating him on a life milestone was played.
“I am always here. I am always a phone call away. Unfortunately I can’t be there at the event but I really wanted to be there,” she says.
Joyce Hayden said memories of her carry them through difficult days as they fight to end gun violence, what she calls a public health crisis with long lasting consequences.
“Those repercussions show up in mental health issues. Anxiety, high blood pressure diabetes, heart problems. All of those things are part of the toll that gun violence takes on our lives and we have to really put and end to it,” she said.
Investigators in Atlanta say Taylor Hayden was not the intended target that night. Her family has planned a virtual vigil to honor her on July 23.