Remembered for her 'huge heart': Bradenton mom killed in shooting

Tiara Frett woke up to a startling call at 5 a.m. from her aunt asking if she was OK.

“Why would I not be? Is everything OK?”

“Not really, I’ll call you back,” her aunt said.

Trying to make sense of her aunt's worrying words, she called her sister, Tenesha Frett, twice, but she never responded. Her heart sank.

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Tiara Frett, 34, would find out later that morning that her sister was killed on Sept. 17 in a Bradenton shooting.

Tenesha Frett, 33, was the mother of two daughters, a 10-year-old and 13-year-old. She worked as a caregiver through various home care agencies in the area. She was funny and lit up the room when she entered. She was a survivor who was known as a protector of family and friends. She had a huge heart and would give to others even when she didn’t have enough for herself. Her family has created a GoFundMe that'll go toward supporting her two daughters, who have now lost both of their parents.

“She’s going to be really, really missed," Tiara Frett said. "It’s going to be a hard hit every time I think of her and remember she’s not going to be here."

The Fretts' father was killed in a 2012 Sarasota shooting while defending one of his daughters. After what happened to her dad, it became difficult for Tiara Frett to live in the area. She said she moved to get away from the gun violence.

“Put them down,” Tiara Frett said about guns. “Everybody is affected – not just the person who is getting shot or the person holding the gun. The pain from a gun hurts everybody, and it affects so many people and families.”

The Manatee County Sheriff's Office was unable to provide details from the shooting, but Tiara Frett said that her sister was shot after getting in an argument with a woman at a bar while defending her friend.

“She wouldn’t allow someone to argue or fight with her friends when she was around, and that’s how she always was,” Tiara Frett said.

By the time dispatched deputies arrived at the scene, Tenesha Frett was being taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital by someone who was at the scene, according to an MCSO public information report. She was then transported to Blake Medical Center by EMS, where she later died from her injuries.

Now, Tenesha Frett’s daughters have lost both of their parents. Her oldest daughter’s father passed away, and the youngest daughter's father is in prison. Tenesha Frett’s mom will assume custody of her granddaughters. 

It’s an unbelievable loss that the family was completely shocked by.

During Tiara Frett’s last pregnancy, Tenesha Frett was the person who took her to the hospital and stayed with her during her daughter’s birth.

Tiara Frett has not only lost her sister but also her best friend. Only a year apart in age, the two always had each other backs and were even pregnant during the same time for both of their pregnancies. Tenesha Frett was the person that Tiara Frett could be the freest with. Regardless of what she was going through, she could always call on her sister.

“She was just always there, and now I don’t have that anymore."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Tenesha Frett, Bradenton mom killed in shooting, had a 'huge heart'