About 50 people gathered Thursday evening in Oakland's Dimond district to show their sympathy and outrage over the killing of an 8-year-old girl who was gunned down when she and her friend opened the door to a hail of bullets.
Among the notable attendees at the neighborhood vigial was Wanda Johnson, the mother of Oscar Grant, who was killed by a BART officer on New Year's in 2009, a death in which the officer was later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
"This murder was senseless," Johnson told the crowd. "My heart bleeds. My heart bleeds."
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Oakland's Interim Police Chief Sean Whent also attended an impromptu ceremony where the crowd sang "Amazing Grace" and laid flowers on the sidewalk outside the apartment building in the 3400 block of Wilson Avenue where Alaysha Carradine was killed just after 11:15 p.m. Wednesday.
"It's as low as you can possibly get," Whent said. "What kind of human being shoots a little girl?"
As of Friday, police said they had "several leads" but had made no arrests regarding Alaysha, who was the city's 54th homicide victim this year and the youngest.
She had been sleeping over at her 7-year-old's house when there was a knock on the door. Apparently, she and her friend opened the door. Bullets rang out, striking both girls, the friend's 4-year-old brother and their 63-year-old grandmother. The three were injured and are expected to recover.
Police did not release any possible motive for the shooting. The only other person in the apartment, Khamel Hardin, 22, was not injured when the bullets rang out. He said he had no idea why someone would pop off a fusillade of shots at the apartment building where he lives.
Hardin said Alaysha and the others had opened the door after hearing knocks and thinking it was the 7-year-old's mother.
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Alaysha, a would-be third grader at Fruitvale Elementary School, went by the name of "Ladybug." She was bubbly and talkative and loved to model, friends and family said.
"How many more lives have to be shed?" shouted Leslie Skillet, a woman who attended the vigil. "How many more mothers have to bury their babies?
IF YOU'RE INTERESTED: A $25,000 reward was immediately put up by police and CrimeStoppers for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information should call Oakland police at 510-238-3821 or the anonymous tip line at 510-773-2508.
NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith and Stephanie Chuang contributed to this report.
