The Mirror.com Alaysia Smith, who had celebrated her birthday just weeks earlier, was shot and killed inside a private property on Wednesday night.
According to the police, two teenage boys were spotted fleeing the house.
The identity of the shooter is unknown, and according to officials, no firearms were found.
Smith was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital about 8 p.m. She lived with her family just around the corner from the scene of the incident.
On Thursday, a large number of people came to the family’s home to offer their condolences and unwavering support.
“Before I had kids, Alaysia was like a daughter to me,” her uncle Roscoe Bruce IV said. Bruce claimed that he has assisted in raising the 13-year-old since she was a newborn. “People kept coming up, like, ‘Oh, that’s your baby, that’s your baby,’ and I was like, ‘No, I’m just the uncle.’”
Following the deadly shooting in the 2800 block of North Bailey Street, he is inconsolable.
Bruce says his niece had a passion for cheerleading and dancing.
The Blackhawks Cheerleaders’ coaches issued the following statement: “Whether she was perfecting her cheer routines, or sharing her unique sense of humor, Alaysia had a special way of making everyone feel loved and valued.”
Her uncle continued, “Full of talent, full of love, full of beauty and we are truly, truly going to miss her. This is a heavy blow to our family.”
“I think everybody that’s sending their love and sending their prayers. I just ask you to continue to pray for us. Continue to cover us,” Bruce added. According to authorities, there is a $20,000 reward available for information that results in the shooter’s capture or conviction.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said a neighbor on Bailey Street who knew Smith’s family well.
“They are going to have to deal with the loss of a child and I know what that’s like. I lost my only child in an explosion 30 years ago and you just have to hold on to God.”
The Philadelphia Anti-Drug Anti-Violence Network community activist Rosco Bruce, Smith’s grandfather, recalled his granddaughter as being lovely and intelligent.
“She was 13 and she just couldn’t wait to be grown,” he said.
“She was a little fashion model and she liked to dress up. She was a girly-girl and she loved to get her hair and nails done.
She was an all-around good kid and a good student — always on the honor roll or close.”
