An eight-year-old girl described as “the light in everyone’s life” has been identified as one of four people killed in a mass shooting at a child’s party in California, her devastated family said.
Maya Lupian was shot dead at a banquet hall in the city of Stockton, about 60 miles east of San Francisco, on Saturday evening.
Two children, aged nine and 14, and a 21-year-old were also killed in the attack.
Eleven people were wounded, and at least one is in critical condition, according to San Joaquin county sheriff Patrick Withrow.
Police asked the public for help tracking down the perpetrators, saying there may have been “multiple shooters” who “targeted” the party.
No arrests have been made.
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Maya’s older sister, Yesenia Lupian, said in a tribute that the third grader was “the most outgoing 8-year-old you’d ever meet”.
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“Maya was the light in everyone’s life, the sweetest soul,” Ms Lupian wrote on a GoFundMe page.
“She deserved a childhood full of laughter, school days, karate, family time and dreams… not this.
“We would have been celebrating her 9th birthday in just 2 weeks on December 13th. We are devastated, heartbroken and trying to navigate the impossible.”
Ms Lupian said Maya, who “excelled” at school and her extracurricular activities, loved to dance, sing, and draw. She was a purple belt in karate, and she loved being active, her sister added.
The family started the fundraiser as they are “facing unexpected financial burdens, time away from work and want to secure ongoing support as we process this loss”.
More than $60,000 was raised in about 16 hours.
Meanwhile, the 14-year-old victim has been named as Amari Peterson by his aunt, Aresha Mosley.
She said on a fundraising page that he was “a bright, loved, and promising young soul whose life was taken far too soon by a senseless act of violence”.
“The only mistake this sweet boy made was being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ms Mosley wrote. “He was simply being a kid at a kids’ party.
“No parent should ever have to bury their child. No family should ever go from planning birthdays to planning funerals.”
Ms Mosley said Amari loved playing football and basketball and was making college plans.
Emmanuel Lopez told the Los Angeles Times his brother, 21-year-old Susano Archuleta, died at the party after being shot in the neck.
Mr Lopez also said his nine-year-old daughter was shot in the head, but she survived.
It comes as Patrice Williams, the mother of the two-year-old birthday girl, said she was “shocked and lost” after the shooting, which happened as party attendees were getting ready to cut the cake.
“I actually thought it was my balloons popping. It was gunshots,” Ms Williams said.
Her daughter was uninjured, but Ms Williams said that her sister, a cousin and three of her friends were shot.
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She said that she did not get a look at the shooter, adding: “They deserve to be in jail. They deserve to go to hell. I’m sorry, but I just … it’s not respectable. It’s a kids’ party.”
