Today’s Sunday Sermon
Police said they were called to a home in the 2800-block of Enoch Avenue in Zion around 9 p.m. Saturday. There, they found Melanie Yates inside her home, struck in the head by a bullet. She was taken to a local hospital in extremely critical condition, where she died the next morning.
Her mother, Lam Calderon, said Yates and her husband, David Calderon, were each putting one of their girls to sleep, separately, when the shooting happened.
“When my son asked my daughter, ‘Did you hear those fireworks?’ ‘Cause they sounded a little louder,” she said.
Melanie did not answer.
Melanie Yates was struck in the head following an exchange of gunfire outside of her home. She leaves behind her husband David and daughters Lydia and Evelyn.
“She was with her baby reading a Bible story to her seven-month-old and praying with her,” Melanie’s father Shawn Calderon said.
“We have the hope and the assurance that she is in heaven right now with Jesus and one day we will see her again. That’s what we’re holding onto.”
“Everybody who knew Lanie knows she loved Jesus Christ with every fiber of her being. There is no doubt whatsoever that she is in heaven at this very moment,” the page reads. “But we on earth miss her very dearly. We miss her passionate, powerful prayers. We miss her infectious laugh. We miss her beautiful singing voice lifting songs of worship. We miss her feisty, witty humor. We miss her dedication to being an amazing, godly mom and wife. We miss her. And we wish with every fiber of our being she was here, but we know she’s in a better place.”
A GoFundMe has been started.
