Homicide victim always sought happiness

CLOVIS — Tchicaya Williams, friends and family members said, always tried to make everybody happy, and she was at one of her life’s happiest points when she was killed Sunday night.

Williams, 38, died of an apparent gunshot wound while she was in her Clovis apartment in the 1500 block of Echols Avenue.

Police and family members declined to discuss details of the shooting, though Williams’ cousin, Teola Haskins, said Williams was not the intended target.

Clovis Police Chief Doug Ford said Tuesday morning the department’s Major Crimes Unit is investigating the case, and is looking for an early 2000s Chevrolet Impala with a black stripe.

No arrests had been made late Tuesday morning. Police were called to the scene at 9:24 p.m. Sunday.

Haskins told The News she would see Tchicaya, also known as “Caya,” pretty much every weekend for family dinners and not a day went by without a visit or some type of communication.

“She was going to make you laugh,” said Haskins, who knew Williams her entire life and lived in the same house over various years as the two grew up. “If you don’t see her, she’s going to text you, she’s going to call you, she’s going to Snap you.”

Williams, Haskins said, was never more happy than during her final days with all of her six kids back in Clovis — children born over about 15 years — and the extended family of roughly a dozen always had dinner and a movie at somebody’s place. Be it a Sunday dinner or a Saturday card game, regardless of whose place it was, you just walked in, and if you knocked on the door everybody would give you a puzzled look.

“If we’re not all there at the same time, somebody is there periodically,” Haskins said. “We all show up throughout the day.”

Alyssa Hancock, who worked with Williams at the Clovis Arby’s, was pretty much an unofficial family member as well. A brother of Williams is the father to Hancock’s daughter, and she lived across from Williams’ apartment. She said she was home Sunday night, heard gunshots and then heard Williams’ oldest son yelling outside. She declined to discuss the event further.

But Hancock said she couldn’t imagine why anybody would ever want to harm Williams.

“Caya was a very happy person, lovable,” Hancock said. “(She) did everything for everybody. She made sure everybody always had a smile on their face.”

Anybody with information about the vehicle, or anything else related to the case, is asked to call 575-769-1921 and ask to speak with a detective.