Pregnant woman killed after shots fired from sunroof of passing car. Her baby survived.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Annie Sandifer was the "best mother ever," her relatives said.

She had five children, and she was pregnant with her sixth. She was so excited. On Saturday, her tiny baby boy came into the world.

But Sandifer didn't live to hold him in her arms.

She died, police say, following a drive-by shooting early Saturday on Milwaukee's northwest side. She was a passenger in a party bus that was parked outside Gene's Supper Club, around 2:30 a.m. when a gunman fired five to six rounds from the sunroof of a passing car.

Sandifer, 35, was struck. The bus drove to Ascension St. Joseph hospital with Sandifer on board. Her baby, born at 26 weeks, was in stable condition after doctors performed an emergency C-section, police said.

Family who attended a vigil Saturday evening identified Sandifer as the shooting victim and described her as a loving, giving mother who truly cared for those around her.

"She did everything, like a mother should," said Kisha Ducksworth, her cousin. "She went out of her way for her kids."

A large crowd of supporters gathered Saturday outside Gene's Supper Club to release purple balloons into the sky and remember their Annie. Lorenzo Sandifer, her husband, brought bright red Valentine's Day-themed balloons. The couple had just married last May, according to social media.

Sandifer had a big extended family. Many relatives showed up Saturday evening. They'd been largely spared from the city's gun violence until this weekend, said cousin Keandra Lasher.

"We're used to cancer and all that, but we're not used to gunshots," Lasher said.

"I loved my cousin with everything in me," she said.

Jeanette Thomas, Sandifer's aunt, had just spoken to her the evening before the shooting. Sandifer was her "bestie," she said.

They'd traded phone calls throughout the day Friday, and Sandifer stopped by her house midday. The final call was around 8:30 p.m.

"Then I ain't talk to her no more," Thomas said quietly.

"She had kids to go home to. She had a whole family," Thomas said. "It's a cold world out here."

Family members pleaded for the people responsible for the shooting to turn themselves in to police.

Police described the vehicle as a silver four-door sedan. They asked anyone with information about the incident to call police. Police had not arrested anyone as of Sunday, they said.

Gene's Supper Club, a popular nightspot, has been criticized by neighbors who say it draws a loud, unruly and disrespectful crowd.

And some angered by the woman's death directed part of their frustration at the club.

"This is just an ongoing thing. It's out of control," said Keisha Powers, who was inside her parents' house when she heard the gunshots ring out and a car speed away.

Calls to the supper club from the Journal Sentinel went unanswered Saturday afternoon and evening.

Democratic state Sen. Lena Taylor, whose campaign headquarters for Milwaukee's mayoral race is on the block, called the shooting a "horrible reminder" of the trauma endured by many in Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods, victims and perpetrators alike. 

"This is a woman who was pregnant, and a baby who will never know its mother," she said.

"People go from zero to 1,000 in a minute. And that is a mental health issue," Taylor said. "I'm not saying people shouldn't be punished. But we need to help people find other ways to deal with their frustrations."

Milwaukee Ald. Cavalier Johnson, who represents the district where the shooting took place, called for state legislators to take action on gun control. He said he was "disturbed" that the Republican-controlled Legislature "seems not to want to take any action surrounding access to guns in this state."

He also said he was disgusted by the shooting.

"My heart was broken for the victim," he said Saturday afternoon. "It was broken for her family and most importantly it was broken for her baby."

"It should never have happened," he said.