A student group at Illinois State University is honoring one of its former members who was shot to death in 2023.
Aréanah Preston, 24, was a Chicago Police Officer who was killed in an apparent robbery near her home in the Avalon Park Neighborhood shortly after her work shift had ended. Her gun was taken during the holdup.
Kiara Shields is vice president of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs Women of Enlightenment chapter at ISU. The group organized a remembrance called Walk for Preston at the ISU Quad for Preston in hopes of seeking an end to gun violence.
“[It’s] an effort toward putting the guns down, just cleaning up the streets, hopefully more as we do this and get together as a community we could hopefully stop that and push for more change,” Shields said.
Preston's family has started a foundation in Aréanah's name in gun violence prevention.
“It’s an epidemic now unfortunately and if [‘Aréanah's] name can save a few, I will be forever grateful,” Preston’s mother Dionne Mhoon said. "It's definitely a group effort; community, law enforcement, family that will have to make that change.
Peace for Preston supports mental health consultations, scholarships and mentoring for youth and promotes careers in law enforcement.
Preston graduated from ISU in 2020 with a degree in criminal justice. She worked for Chicago PD for three years and was weeks away from earning a master’s degree in criminology from Loyola University Chicago.
Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington attended the observance in support of the women’s group’s efforts. While he didn’t know Preston, he acknowledged she was highly thought of within the Chicago Police Department.
“She was a remarkable public servant,” Simington said.
Simington echoed the sentiments of event organizers that communities need to address ways to end gun violence.
“It’s imperative in each and every community. Gun violence touches everyone’s lives. It’s not only the victim, it’s not only the offender, it’s far beyond that,” Simington said.
Mhoon said she came back to Preston’s alma mater for what's become an annual event because “it’s a piece of her here."
“She walked these halls, she studied in these halls, and as her mother, I want to be everywhere where she made some type of impact,” Mhoon said.
Four teenagers, ages 16 to 19, were charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery and other charges in connection with Preston’s killing.
