Family, friends and neighbors gathered to pray and then walked to the spot where 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson’s life was taken by gunfire.
This time last year, 10-year-old Makiyah Wilson was enjoying a summer night outside her family's home when men jumped out of a car and started shooting.
The D.C. fifth-grader was shot and killed a year ago Tuesday, on July 16, 2018. Gang members were shooting at rivals and inadvertently killed the little girl, prosecutors said.
Loved ones and community members will mark the day with a peace rally and a renewed commitment to stop gun violence.
Wilson's father said he remembers in horror the moment he learned his child had been shot.
"I got that call that still to this day haunts me. To this day," Michael Wilson said Tuesday, his eyes downcast.
In Wilson's family's first year without her, they launched the Makiyah Lee Wilson Foundation. The organization's goals include supporting families scarred by violence and empowering girls.
The website for the foundation pays tribute to Wilson.
"My colorful personality brightened up a stranger's day. My laugh is music to people's ears," the site says. "[...] I am not a hashtag. I am not another statistic. I am Makiyah Wilson."
D.C. police announced Monday that they charged an eighth suspect in the child's killing. Seven people have been charged with murder. An eighth person was charged with obstructing justice.
Wilson died after four masked suspects leaped out of a car and fired into a crowded apartment courtyard in the 300 block of 53rd Street NE. She was not targeted, police said.
The killing was met with horror in D.C., where nearly two dozen children and teens had been shot as of last fall.
"We have to be outraged," Assistant Police Chief Chanel Dickerson said at the time.
According to a grand jury indictment, the suspects involved in Wilson's killing were all part of a street gang known as the Glizzy Murder Gang or Wellington Park. The indictment named 11 suspects and said the killing stemmed from disputes between rival neighborhoods, Wellington Park and Clay Terrace.
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The gunmen fired more than 60 shots, got back into an Infiniti sedan and sped off. Four other people, including Wilson's 18-year-old sister, were shot and wounded.
Wilson was a star student who loved sports, music and video games.
"Makiyah, she was special," her grandmother said.
