Janelle Monáe fans offer condolences after her cousin is killed in KCK drive-by shooting

Singer Janelle Monáe became the third high-profile celebrity in recent days to lose a family member to violence when her first cousin was killed in a drive-by shooting Tuesday in Kansas City, Kan.

All of the deceased were mothers who left children behind.

The Grammy nominee and KCK native shared the news with her Twitter followers in a series of emotional messages, including one that read: “#KansasCity #Gunviolence is still keeping our city in a dark place. The fear of ‘who is next?’ never leaves. Praying4more light. Help us.”

Her cousin, Natasha Hays, 32, had three children.

Last week, 32-year-old Nykea Aldridge, a mother of four and cousin of Chicago Bulls star Dwyane Wade, was caught in deadly crossfire while pushing her infant in a stroller in a Chicago neighborhood.

On Tuesday, Grammy winning rapper T-Pain lost his niece, Javona Glover, 23, when she was stabbed to death outside a Walgreens in West Tallahassee, Fla.

Police issued a warrant for a man who fled the scene. The singer asked fans to help find the “coward” who killed his cousin, who left behind a 2-year-old daughter.

Monáe also issued a plea on social media: “Help us find her killer.”

Her tweet about talking to her uncle after his daughter’s death hit fans particularly hard.

Some fans who reached out to Monáe said their lives, too, have been touched by violence.

The Kansas City, Kan., Police Department’s Major Case Unit is investigating the Hays homicide and asks anyone with information about the shooting to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).