Miah Ladelle Banks was gunned down early Monday morning. She leaves behind an 8-year-old daughter.
[Ads /]
"Everyone in the family is broken, especially her parents," Banks' aunt La Cherryl Veal told Eyewitness News. "Her mother is, like she described herself to me last night as just being empty. She said she had no feeling. It's not normal, it's not natural for a mother to bury her child."
Veal is remembering her niece as a hardworking, kind soul who stayed away from trouble and supported her entire family.
On the day of shooting, Banks was supposed to pick up her sister who had just been released after serving a two-year prison sentence.
"Blue, black, orange, yellow. I don't care what color you were. She loved everybody. She takes care of the world," Veal said. "If you were friends with her and say you were in need of something, she would help you out."
Damien Salter, Veal's son, is the co-owner of the salon where Banks worked for eight years cutting hair. Her chair in the salon is now empty. Salter says the business and his entire family will never be the same.
"It's going to be very hard to come back here, to see her not here," Salter said. "She pretty much ran everything over here. She was everything to us all."
[Ads /]
A fight broke out between several people at the New Year's Eve party and a total of 10 were shot. The other person killed has been identified as 24-year-old Deven Whitaker of Los Angeles.
"There's too many lives being lost for no reason. Innocent people. It seems like the guns are in the wrong hands and something needs to be done about that," Veal said.
No arrests have been made. Anyone with information regarding the shooting is asked to call the Los Angeles Police Department.
A GoFundMe page for Banks has been set up.