Friends and family of Akyra Murray gathered at her Philadelphia high school Wednesday evening to remember the youngest victim of the Orlando shooting.
The 18-year-old girl was a star point guard on West Catholic Preparatory High School's basketball team and had signed a letter of intent to play at Mercyhurst University on a full scholarship.
Murray was in Orlando on family vacation. Her mother says she was fatally shot in the arm at Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning, and that her daughter called her before she died, pleading for help while trapped in a bathroom with the gunman.
The teen's friend, 20-year-old Patience Carter, detailed being pinned down in the bathroom with the shooter in horrifying detail during an interview Tuesday.
"The motive was very clear to us who were laying in our own blood and other people’s blood," Carter said. "He wasn’t going to stop killing people until he was killed, until he felt like his message got out there."
More than 300 people, including family, students, parents, teachers and alumni, attended a vigil for Murray at West Catholic Prep Wednesday evening.
"It was humbling," said Shauna Williams, a West Catholic Prep alum. "Her spirit came across the room. The spirit that she carried for the team just took over the atmosphere."
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A group of students showed NBC10 a list of Murray's high school accomplishments which was passed out during the vigil. Murray was a standout student and basketball player who scored 1,000 career points. But loved ones say her legacy was much more than what she did on the basketball court.
"She never really tried to preach to anybody unless you asked her for help," said Calvin Pressley, a sophomore at West Catholic. "She just did everything the right way."
