West Catholic Prep mourns Akyra Murray, youngest victim of Orlando shooting

WEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Talented. Hard working. A great personality.

That's how many describe Akyra Murray.

It was just a week ago West Catholic Prep High School came together to celebrate graduating seniors including Murray. On Wednesday, they returned to mourn one of their own.

Among the teary eyed students and staff leaving West Catholic Prep after a private vigil were Akyra's aunt, cousin and grandfather.

"Blessed, blessed, blessed to know that in 18 years she put a mark and a lot of people's lives," aunt Niya Logan said.

Grandfather Nathaniel Logan was too upset, he couldn't find the words to describe his pain.

"That's my heart. That's all I can say right now," Nathaniel Logan said.

In a video of the private vigil posted on the school's Facebook page, Akyra's coach fought back tears.

"I've been wondering all afternoon what I'm going to say to the student body that will bring them understanding that bad things happen in our world today," West Catholic Preparatory High School President Brother Richard Kestler said earlier Wednesday.

Inside an auditorium that holds 1,000 people, the West Catholic community is grieving.

"I received a phone call from my daughter saying, 'Mom, I've been shot in the arm. Help me, please," mother Natalie Murry said.

Akyra had gone to Pulse nightclub with her cousin, Tiara Parker, and her friend, Patience Carter, during their trip to Orlando.

The 18-year-old is the youngest victim of Sunday's mass shooting.

"She didn't make it, me and Tiara did, and I feel really guilty about that," Carter told reporters said Tuesday.

But it's not her death, but her life being remembered.

The basketball superstar was heading to Mercyhurst University in in Erie, Pennsylvania on a full ride.

She was an honor student who had just graduated last week, third in her class, with so much promise, only for her destiny to be unfulfilled.

"A week's difference and what a difference that can make. She was a gifted young lady, refined, bright, she incorporated other good people into her life," Kestler said.

Online: Akyra Murray Fund by Beulah Osueke - GoFundMe