ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Family and friends gathered Saturday night at Muldoon Community Assembly to remember 17-year-old Desirae Douglas and rally against the gang violence that ended her life.
She was caught in the crossfire of what police are calling a gang-related shooting at an East Anchorage party last weekend.
"I know how I raised Desirae, I know what I wanted for her," said Nara Carney Brown, Desirae's mother, adding that she wished she had stopped Desirae from going to the party. "But I also know that she had friends, that she wanted to do things with her friends. I trusted my daughter, she was trying to get home that night."
One by one, speakers remembered the young woman they lost.
"The reason I call Desirae 'Bubbles' is because every time I pulled up to that drive-in window or I walked in McDonald's, she was bubbly," said Sherdan Williams, a frequent customer of the restaurant where Desirae worked.
