‘She got along with everybody:’ Father describes daughter fatally shot in East St. Louis
Trenadi Bateman’s family is devastated because she was shot to death and the killer is still out in the community somewhere.
Trenadi’s father, Dwayne Batemen, said the teenager was a mom, his daughter and a bit wild but nothing that deserved what she got.
Speaking about her personality, Bateman said Trenadi was “real friendly.”
“She got along with everybody,” he said.
Her survivors include her 4-year-old daughter.
Trenadi Bateman, 19, was shot on Friday morning in the 4000 block of State Street in East St. Louis and died at Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights, authorities said. East St. Louis police and Illinois State Police investigators are working jointly to locate the person who shot and killed her.
A news release from Illinois State Police said she got into an altercation and then was struck by gunfire following that incident.
Police are not saying whether they have identified a suspect or a person of interest in connection with this homicide. No other details about the incident have been released by police since the state police issued a statement on Sunday following a query from a Belleville News-Democrat reporter.
Dwayne Bateman, dazed by the news that his daughter had been shot, is still trying to recover.
“We are all devastated,” he said.
Bateman was at home when police gave him the gut wrenching news of his daughter’s murder.
“O’Fallon police came in here and notified me late in the evening and I am still trying to process all of this,” he said. “I don’t have any information. They are trying to figure out who shot her. Whatever the reason this (expletive) shot her, she didn’t deserve what this guy did.”
Bateman last talked to his daughter in February. Asked why she was in East St. Louis, Bateman said, “Somebody told me she had an apartment down there.”
Trenadi graduated from Collinsville High School last year.
Her obituary states she worked at two restaurants in Collinsville.
“She told her sister she was trying to get her life back together. Apparently she had a job because she just bought that car on Monday and got killed … on Friday,” Bateman said.
“She was my baby,” he said. “We didn’t always get along or agree on things, but she was loved. She comes from a loving family.”
Dwayne Bateman said he is tired of all of the senseless killings and that the people running around with guns are cowards.
“Some of the boys out there are scared of a real fight. He was scared enough of my daughter that he had to use a gun,” Bateman said. “They are all cowards if they have to use a gun. They hide behind bullets.”
Visitation
Arrangements for Trenadi Bateman are being handled by Kalmer Memorial Services.
A memorial gathering will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Kalmer Memorial Services at 8638 U.S. 50 between O’Fallon and Lebanon.
