Anitra Holloman, killed in Birmingham shooting, lost her daughter's father to violence: 'She feels her mother is gone'

Anitra Holloman lost the love of her life to gun violence on the streets of Birmingham two years ago.

Four months pregnant at the time, Holloman, affectionately known to her friends and family as ReRe, stayed strong and kept moving forward, determined to give herself and her daughter the best life possible.

She was winning.

At 21, Holloman was in college to become a teacher and still working, all while being a loving single mother to Skilar.

All her plans and dreams came to an end Saturday night when she was shot and killed while waiting in line with friends to get into Hush Lounge on Magnolia Avenue.

“My baby was shot four times,” said her grieving mother, Candace Kemp. “She didn’t stand a chance.”

“They really broke my heart,” Kemp said.

Holloman was one of four people killed when gunmen opened fire in the heart of Five Points South, firing more than 100 rounds — some fully automatic — into the crowd gathered in the popular entertainment district.

The shooting injured 17 other people, five of whom remain hospitalized.

“She was my best friend,” Kemp said, “my right-hand woman.”

Holloman graduated from A.H. Parker High School and attended Lawson State Community College.

Demetris Silliman Jr., Holloman’s longtime love and Skilar’s father, was found shot to death on October 11, 2022.

Birmingham police and firefighters responded at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday to the 1100 block of Penfield Drive at the intersection of Zion City Road.

Silliman was found dead in his black 2010 Chevrolet Impala on the side of the road.

His murder remains unsolved.

“They were in love,” Kemp said. “They had been together for a long time.”

“My baby stayed strong,” she said. “She had their baby and she was the best mother. She’s been taking care of their baby ever since.”

While in college, Holloman worked in her family’s tax firm as a tax preparer and studied to become a notary.

“She was very determined,” Kemp said. “She said she wanted to be like her mother because I’m an entrepreneur myself.”

Birmingham Mass Shooting, Anitra Holloman — Anitra Holloman, a 21-year-old college student who was raising her daughter alone after her boyfriend was shot and killed in 2022, was killed in the September 21 mass shooting in Birmingham.(Special for AL.com)

Although he graduated from Parker, Holloman was out with friends Saturday night to celebrate a Jackson-Olin High School alumni event.

“She just happened to come in that night,” Kemp said. “She was doing what 21-year-old girls do.”

Holloman and his friends had barely arrived on the line when the shots rang out.

Kemp said another victim, Tahj Booker, 27, tried to shield Holloman from the bullets. Both died on the sidewalk.

Holloman’s sister stumbled upon Facebook and saw news of the shooting.

“I checked where she (Holloman) was and saw she was there,” Kemp said. “I immediately started calling her, but she didn’t answer.”

“I just knew something was wrong,” she said, “because even if she had hidden (from the gunfire), she would have answered my call to tell me she was OK.”

Kemp called repeatedly as she rushed from their home to the crime scene.

“A police officer told me to go to the hospital,” she said. “I waited there for a few hours and they told me they didn’t even have my baby in the hospital.”

She said she called three other hospitals to no avail, then learned her worst fear had come true.

“They told us to go to the crime scene,” Kemp said. “She was still on the ground.”

Kemp saw video of the shooting involving her daughter, but did not see her body at the scene. “I didn’t want to see that,” she said.

Holloman was Kemp’s second of five children and his eldest daughter.

Holloman and Skilar lived with Kemp, and she can’t imagine a future without her.

“She told me she would never leave my house,” Kemp said, “and I told her she would never have to.”

Skilar, who turned 1 in March, probably doesn’t understand what happened, but she knows something is wrong.

“She goes into their room — they slept in the same room — and keeps asking, ‘Where’s my mom?’” Kemp said. “Skilar slept under her mom’s breast. She must have been right underneath her.”

“I think she’s wondering why all these people are here in our home,” she said. “I know she feels like her mother is gone.”

“She’s usually picky when she wants her mom and she’s not,” Kemp said, “so I don’t know if my daughter holds her and calms her down. Honestly, I feel like she does.”

Kemp said Holloman was quiet, but still outgoing.

“When she went out with friends, she had fun, but she was very respectful,” she said. “She was very pretty and followed the latest fashion trends.”

“Everyone loved ReRe,” she said. “She was just that girl.”

Kemp said she wanted her daughter to be known for her smile and ambition.

“She loved you very much,” she said. “When she loved you, she loved and accepted you as you were as a person.”

But most of all, she said, Holloman was generous.

“She never missed a gift for the holidays that were important to me,” she said. “She always gave me memorable gifts like pictures of me and my kids, family pictures. She made things for me.”

Kemp said she is trying to stay calm and absorb the loss.

“It’s happened to me several times, but I haven’t had the chance to lay eyes on my baby yet and that’s what’s going to hurt the most,” she said.

“My mother has been with me every step of the way and she’s going to help me through this whole process because I don’t want to see my little girl in this state.”

If given the chance, Kemp said she would simply ask the shooters a few questions.

“Why?” she asked. “Whoever you targeted, why did you have to do it there with all those innocent bystanders.”

“Why do you need those switches on those guns?” Kemp asked. “Just to say you have one and kill innocent people?”

A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered by the FBI and Crime Stoppers.

You can submit information to police here. You can also call investigators at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.