Pryor’s father told NBC 5 his daughter was leaving her grandparents’ house in the neighborhood and walking to the bus stop to travel back to their Evanston home to sign a modeling contract at the time of the shooting. "Everyone loved her," he said, citing her infectious and warm personality that drew others in. Kaylyn Pryor, winner of Mario Tricoci’s 2015 "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition, was standing outside with a 15-year-old boy in the 7300 block of South May Street around 6:20 p.m. Monday in the city’s Englewood neighborhood when a vehicle pulled up and opened fire, according to police. Pryor was shot under her right arm; the teen was struck in the groin area and remained in critical condition late Tuesday at Christ, police said. Police do not believe Pryor was the intended target in the shooting, but it is likely the gunfire was in some way gang-related. "It really demonstrates why we need to do something about gun violence here in Chicago. Winner of Modeling Contest Shot to Death in Chicago 
 
 Kaylyn Pryor, winner of Mario Tricoci's 2015 "Mario, Make Me a Model" competition, was shot to death in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood Monday evening. "So sad that she dies from senseless gun violence when just weeks ago she won this bright promising modeling," one tweet read. Her death comes just over a month after the Evanston native was crowned winner of a modeling contest, which ended with a Sept. 25 celebration and fashion show at the Redmoon Warehouse in Chicago, with more than 1,000 supporters and fans in attendance. Mario Tricoci Hair Salons & Day Spas, which sponsored the contest, released a statement from its namesake founder: 
 
 "We are saddened and broken-hearted to learn of the tragic passing of Kaylyn Pryor. Our hearts and prayers go out to her family," Tricoci said in a statement Tuesday morning. "This touches every one of us who knew and worked with her. Kaylyn will be remembered for her kind and generous spirit. She truly was beautiful inside and out.” 
 
 According to her profile on the annual contest's website, Pryor enjoyed dancing, choreography, poetry and drawing, in addition to modeling. Pryor's father, Alan "Nick" Scott, said he was numb as he spoke about his daughter as relatives gathered to grieve together at the family's house in Evanston. Following the win, Pryor signed with Factor Modeling Agency and was going to school at Robert Morris University’s Illinois campus with her sights set on becoming a paralegal. She had also just signed a contract with Factor Women, a professional modeling agency, Scott said. Scott grew up in his parents' home in Englewood but moved to Evanston with Kaylyn and her sister Chantal when they were young, in part to get away from violence. (Published Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015) 
 
 A young Chicago woman was shot to death Monday, just weeks after being crowned winner of a renowned modeling contest and only blocks from where a 9-year-old boy was gunned down hours earlier. "I live on the South Side of Chicago, so my house is pretty close to some places where shootings take place," Obama said. "I just hoped and prayed it wasn't so bad."
– "I always say the future is unwritten. You never know what will happen," Kaylyn Pryor said after accepting her trophy in Chicago on Sept. 25. An aspiring model, she beat out 500 applicants in a local modeling competition. Soon after, she signed with model agency Factor Women, and local media called her a rising star, reports the Chicago Tribune. Pryor, 20, hoped a job interview at a Victoria's Secret weeks later would help her get noticed, but she never got to the interview. Minutes after leaving her grandmother's house in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood on Monday, Pryor was hit by a bullet in an apparent drive-by shooting. When a neighbor told her grandmother, "I just about dropped to the floor," she says. She raced to Advocate Christ Medical Center, but Pryor "was already gone." No arrests have been made. Police say Pryor was on a sidewalk with a 15-year-old boy around 6:20pm when someone in a dark-colored SUV opened fire, hitting her. The teen—who Pryor's father says was not a close friend of his daughter—was shot in the scrotum and is in critical condition, reports NBC Chicago. Police are investigating whether the boy was the intended target—WGN reports he is "a documented gang member"—but say Pryor was an innocent bystander. "She was an inspiration," her mother says, while the sponsor of the modeling contest describes Pryor as "truly beautiful inside and out." "It's an unspeakable tragedy," a police rep adds. "It really demonstrates why we need to do something about gun violence here in Chicago. We really need to come together as a city and come up with some solutions." A 9-year-old boy was fatally shot in the city on Monday. (Chicago recently had its deadliest day in more than a decade.)