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Kendra Childs Murder Update: As #RIPKendra Goes Viral, Houston Police Investigate Whether Twitter User LingLingBaby Announced Her Plans To Kill The Houston Mother

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 08:30 PST, Sep 14, 2016

The shooting death of Kendra Childs has turned into something of a viral mystery story, with users on Twitter sending the hashtag #RIPKendra viral and hunting for clues about her potential killer — a hunt that now has police on the trail of another Twitter user.

The 19-year-old mother was killed in a drive-by shooting in Houston this week, with someone stopping outside her home and firing five shots into her second-floor apartment. Kendra’s body was later discovered by her boyfriend, with her daughter reportedly unharmed.

While police have not officially named a suspect in the shooting death of Kendra Childs, some Twitter sleuths have uncovered what appears to be simmering tension between the 19-year-old and her current boyfriend’s ex. The International Business Times shared some of the details that users found.

“As noted earlier, some Twitter users might have noticed the trend #ripkendra Wednesday morning. At the time this article was written, it had garnered more than 60,000 tweets. Attached to many of the ‘RIP Kendra’ tweets are screenshots of messages from the apparent ex-girlfriend of Childs’ boyfriend. Her name appears as “linglingbaby” and her handle is @__ladykocaine. She has not been named as a suspect. Her messages allude to violence.

“A message from Aug. 11 said, ‘Nothing makes me mad about a b—- saying she was with my n—- or whatever cause like I tell him… the hoe won’t be around too long.'”

Police are now following up on the Twitter lead and investigating the still-unnamed romantic rival.

“We’re aware of it and we’ve gotten multiple calls,” Victor Sentries, a Houston Police Department spokesman, told IBT about the alleged threats from LingLingBaby. “We take any lead and will investigate it to check on its credibility.”

The details of the shooting itself remain a bit murky. A report from the New York Daily News claimed that witnesses saw a black male with a shaved head driving a Camaro, the vehicle where the fatal shots emanated. Although it appeared that the shots were fired indiscriminately, police said at least one bullet found its target.

“If you can see it’s just a blank wall, they wouldn’t have had known someone was exactly in there and it was a very unlucky shot,” Mark Holdbrook of the Houston Police Department told ABC 13.

The report uncovered more evidence pointing to LingLingBaby, including a tweet in which she declared, “My plan is to plot for a year… And I’m gone kill them people. [I don’t give a f**k] if the [police] see this.”

And the most incriminating tweet appears to come from just one day before the shooting, in which the Twitter foe declared, “Praying everything goes good [tomorrow]. But I just know it will.”

It’s not clear exactly why LingLingBaby was making the threats, and also unclear if they were definitely directed at Childs. But even as the questions remained unanswered, many Twitter users lamented the killing and the role social media may have played.

“This is such a tragedy and to see it all play out and planned out on social media is even worse,” one person wrote.

To add to the tragedy of her death, Kendra Childs was killed just before her 20th birthday. Some family members paid tribute to Kendra online, posting pictures of the Houston mom with her 2-year-old.

Family members said Kendra Childs was a loving and dedicated mother. Her cousin, Angel Woodward, told the Houston Chronicle that Childs worked as a cashier at Walmart and had an infectious spirit.

“She lit up the room and was one of a kind. She would do anything for her daughter,” Woodward said.

To add to the mystery, Woodward added that Childs didn’t have any problems with people that would cause her to be a victim.

Anyone with information about the shooting death of Kendra Childs is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-8477.

[Featured Image by Deja Taylor/Facebook]

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