SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — About 100 people came together in Snohomish County Sunday evening for a candlelight vigil to honor Jayda Woods-Johnson, the 13-year-old who was shot dead inside Alderwood Mall on Wednesday.
Woods-Johnson's family and classmates said they are devastated, and they want justice for their loved one while they sort through their feelings of shock and grief.
"It goes back and forth between devastation, and almost like a dreamlike state where I'm like, 'This can't be right,'" said Cali Johnson, her older cousin. "It's like, 'Is this gonna be over?'"
According to police, the bullet that killed Woods-Johnson was not intended for her. Police said Woods-Johnson was an innocent bystander, entirely uninvolved, when two groups of teenagers got into an altercation, resulting in the suspect pulling out a gun. A stray bullet struck and killed Woods-Johnson
Woods-Johnson was described as "full of life."
"She would just be cracking everybody up, making everybody laugh and smile," John saidson. "And that's what she was best at. Sometimes she would just be laughing, and you would ask what she's laughing at, and she was like, 'Oh, I don't know. I just thought of something.' But she would always be laughing and joking around and dancing."
Dozens held candles and wore tee-shirts dedicated to her memory at the vigil at Mountlake Terrace High School Sunday night.
"When things like this happen, a lot of people say, ‘It’s unfortunate. Wrong place wrong time,'" Johnson said. "We love to say that: ‘Wrong place, wrong time.’ But Jayda was at the mall with her friend. 13 years old. It wasn’t the wrong place, and it shouldn’t have been the wrong time."
"This wasn't a typical, uh, child playing with a gun and accidentally hurt their sibling at home," Johnson said. "He willingly took a gun from wherever he got it from, took it to a public place and shot. And unfortunately, our Jayda paid the price."
She added, "If you're gonna play grown man games, you're gonna get grown man consequences.”
Meanwhile, what happened to Jayda will affect her grieving loved ones forever. But it will also affect the greater Lynnwood community.
"Now they have to consider, 'Is my kid next?'" Johnson said. "Can I send my kid to the mall?"
Those questions are ones that family and friends told KING 5 they feel need to be addressed in the wake of this tragedy, specifically by Washington's policymakers, parents, and youth leaders.
Jayda attended Brier Terrace Middle School in the Edmonds School District. Counselors will be made available to all students on July 8.
Jayda is survived by her parents and two younger brothers.
A fundraiser has been set up to help pay for memorial expenses.