NBA Star Taj Gibson Donates $20K To Slain Bed-Stuy Mother's 3-Year-Old Girl

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn-born NBA star has donated $20,000 to help support the three-year-old daughter of Chynna Battle, the Bed-Stuy woman who was murdered in a shoot-out earlier this month.

Taj Gibson, a forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves, donated the money to a GoFundMe campaign for Amelia St. Omare, whose mother was killed on July 12 when two armed men shot into a crowded courtyard outside the Stuyvesant Garden Houses.

“What these cowards done to Chynna was cruel and reckless,” wrote Battle's sister Jada Madison on the GoFundMe page. “She always wanted the very best for her ‘Milly’ and worked everyday to provide for her.

“I'm asking anyone out the kindness of their hearts to help make sure Amelia is taking care of. No donation is too small, any amount will be of great help.”

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(Chynna Battle and her daughter Amelia — Photo courtesy of Jada Madison)

His donation had helped the GoFundMe campaign earn $23,935 of its $30,000 goal as of Thursday morning.

Battle, 21, was memorialized at her funeral on Friday, where hundred of people gathered in baking heat to honor a young mother who gave up her dreams of joining the Navy to take care of her daughter.

"[Chynna] wanted more bonding time with her daughter," said Cheryl K. Young, Battle’s second cousin, during the service. "She was contagiously heartwarming, ambitious, generous, talented and a devoted mother."

Battle was not the only young mother to lose her life in the shoot-out, which police believe may have been in retaliation for a previous shooting. Shaqwanda Staley, 29, was was also shot and killed. Neither of the two women are believed to have been the intended targets.

Elijah St. Omare, Amelia's father, and Battle's family members will be taking care of the little girl.

NBA representatives were not immediately available to comment.

Correction: The original edition of this story misidentified Jada Madison as a family friend.

Header photos courtesy of Alonzo Adams/Associated Press (left) and by Kathleen Culliton (right).