Funds Pour in For Mother Who Lost Family in St. Charles Shooting: Update

ST. CHARLES, IL - As Anjum Coffland recovers at a local hospital following the Friday shooting that left her without her husband and twin daughters, online fundraisers have started to bring in money to help pay for medical and funeral costs.

Courtney Everhardus, 18, of St. Charles set up a YouCaring page late Sunday night after hearing the 911 calls from the tragic shooting. Anjum recently moved into Everhardus’ apartment building on South 5th Avenue and Everhardus worked with Anjum’s daughter, Tiffany Coffland, 16, at Petland in Batavia before leaving the job last summer. As co-workers, they spoke “very casually.”

“Mostly work-related small talk,” Everhardus said.

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Everhardus had not yet met the woman but felt compelled to help. The YouCaring page has raised nearly $11,000 as of early Wednesday afternoon.

“Anjum needs all the support we can give her,” Everhardus said in an e-mail Monday “It's heartbreaking to our community, even those that barely knew the family, like myself.”

Everhardus hopes to raise $35,000 for Anjum and if more is raised, she hopes to donate to charities and/or organizations that are relevant to Brittany and Tiffany's passions and interests.

“I know Tiffany loved animals, so maybe a donation to an animal shelter on her behalf,” she said.

Anjum was listed in stable condition over the weekend at Delnor Hospital in Geneva after her husband, Randall, 48, shot her in the legs and shot and killed the couple’s teenage daughters, twin sisters Brittany and Tiffany Coffland, both 16, authorities said. The domestic-related shooting happened Friday evening at Randall’s condo at 450 S. 1st St. in St. Charles.

Authorities have not shed any light at this point on what led to the shooting.

• 911 Calls Released in St. Charles Shooting: 'I Shot My 2 Kids, I Shot My Wife'

A second online fundraising page has brought in $1,840 for Anjum Coffland. Jillian Addis, of Oswego, set up the GoFundMe site and writes that Brittany and Tiffany Coffland “were the most beautiful and happiest teenaged twins I’ve ever met.”

Brittany and Tiffany, who were juniors at St. Charles East High School when they were killed, previously attended Oswego High School, the Chicago Tribune reported. The family formerly lived at a home in Oswego before moving to the condo in St. Charles in 2015, the Daily Herald reports. And prior to that, they lived in Carol Stream.

The twins would have celebrated their 17th birthdays on Tuesday. A visitation has been set for this Friday for the twins while their funeral services and burial will be private.

“These girls were taken way too soon,” Addis writes on the GoFundMe page. “They will never be forgotten.”

• The GoFundMe page can be found here. The YouCaring fundraising page can be found here.

Community members in St. Charles and local business owners have been stepping up to show their support for Anjum in light of the tragic shooting. Here is a look at what some local businesses are doing to help raise funds for Anjum.

Photo via LinkedIn