Friends and family pose with a painting of Makiyah Wilson after a candlelight vigil in the Clay Terrace courtyard where the 10-year-old was shot and killed on July 16. (Photo by Tyrone Turner/WAMU)

By Miela Fetaw

Heavy rain over the weekend did not stop the tents from going up, the candles from being lit, and the celebration and mourning of a precious life cut too short.

Family, friends, and community members gathered to remember the life of Makiyah Wilson, a 10-year-old girl shot and killed in Northeast D.C.

Nearly one week after her death, police still have not identified any suspects in the shooting.

Wilson was heading to an ice cream truck on the evening of July 16 when four men stepped into a busy courtyard and opened fire in every direction. The shooting killed Wilson and wounded four others, including her older sister.

Michelle Roseboro, 49, lives around the corner from Wilson’s family. She said she will remember the day Wilson was shot for the rest of her life.

She was celebrating her son’s birthday when she heard gunshots, and mistook them for fireworks. She left her home and walked around the corner to find Makiyah in her last moments of life.

“I watched her take her last breath on that porch,” Roseboro said in between tears, “and then she was gone.”

Roseboro’s granddaughter Tristin Stewart went to camp with Wilson and cannot stop looking at Wilson’s photos or visiting the memorial outside of her house. It is filled with balloons and dozens of colorful stuffed animals. With each day, the memorial grows.

Roseboro remembers Wilson as full of life, always smiling and laughing—like a child should.

“At one time we use to go to funerals because we got old,” Roseboro said. “Now the caskets are getting shorter and shorter, and smaller and smaller.”

Wilson’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.

This story originally appeared on WAMU

Previously:
GoFundMe Campaign Set Up For Family Of 10-Year-Old Killed In Shooting
Ten-Year-Old Girl Killed After Masked Gunmen Fired Into Crowd In Northeast