Family, friends hold vigil for teen killed in apparent accidental shooting in Queens

    EAST NEW YORK, Brooklyn (WABC) -- Friends and family gathered Tuesday night to remember a teenage girl who was shot and killed over the weekend.

Some of the circumstances surrounding her death are still hazy, but the pain on her mother's face was crystal clear.

On a frigid night in East New York, a mother's farewell, was just as bitter.

"This didn't need to happen and my baby didn't deserve it," said the mother of the victim, Krystal Barkley.

Deaza Barkley, 17, was a cheerleader and a high school student, committed to changing the world.

She chose to explore gun violence in a school project writing, "By recognizing this problem we can do something and create a sustainable future."

But before we had the chance, a bullet took away her future, crushing all who knew her.

"To lose the very thing that she wanted to bring awareness to is like a triple heartbreak," Barkley said.

Last Saturday, Deaza was at a friend's house in Queens.

A 16-year-old boy was apparently playing with a gun when it went off, striking Barkley, officials said.

According to the complaint, the boy was handling a loaded and operable firearm and the firearm discharged a bullet, which struck the victim in the head.

EMS rushed Barkley to the hospital in critical condition, where she later died from her injury.

The boy was charged with manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

"She is no longer here because some young thug decides to use a weapon of mass destruction," Rev. Kevin McCall of Crisis Action Center said.

Barkley's mother was not ready for the way life changed.

One moment her daughter was coming home to her in Brooklyn with dreams that included possibly joining the Air Force, and the next moment not having her daughter at all.

"She was torn at the moment between college first or the Air Force," Barkley said.

Investigators are looking into who owned the gun used in Barkely's killing.

The serial number was scratched off, which can make it harder to trace.

Just last month, the city celebrated the milestone of more than 20,000 guns taken off the streets under the Adams administration.

"In the last three years gun arrests were up over 8l%," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

But the numbers don't tell the whole story.

"You know, she's not blind to what happens in her community. I just never thought that her name would become another victim to it," Barkley said.