82-year-old Lexington woman shot, killed in 2020 honored by family

The family of an 82-year-old Lexington woman who was shot and killed by crossfire in 2020 is remembering her legacy this weekend.

It's been nearly four years since Alice Carter was killed in her driveway on West Fifth Street. Her case remains unsolved, but this weekend her family is honoring her legacy by giving away free backpacks.

"She was a people person and she loved to give," Carter's daughter Vanessa Smothers told LEX 18. "She would give a person the shirt off her back, her last dime."

Smothers said they're turning her mother's tragic death into a way to give back to the community because that's what her mother would have done.

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"She loved everybody," she said. "There was not one person she did not love. If she loved you, you were part of her family."

Carter had worked as a nurse and raised eight children. She's survived by a large and loving family who are still hoping for closure. They paid for the backpacks themselves, which they're giving away Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at the Eastside library branch.

Smothers said they have 93 backpacks total, which will be first-come, first-serve.

She said they've also assembled hygiene kits for the homeless, which they'll be giving away at a later date.

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As the family remembers their matriarch, Smothers said they're still waiting for justice in the case that's gone cold.

She shared this message for whoever killed her mother.

"You have destroyed a family," she said. "My mother would have forgiven you instantly. I have prayed, and through prayer God has allowed me to forgive you. So I would ask that you would apologize for destroying a family."