Residents pay respects to 16-year-old murder victim on Rae Street

A memorial of stuffed toys, candles and flowers has been laid on the front lawn of a house in North Central, where the city’s most recent murder victim died.

On Monday, police were sent to a home in the 1200 block of Rae Street for a report of a weapons offence.

When officers arrived, they found a 16-year-old girl dead. Police say an injured man was also taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Neressa Aspen and her friend, Bryana Zarazun, showed up on Thursday morning to add to the shrine.

“It’s not even fair that she’s gone. She’s so young for this to happen. That’s just sad,” Zarazun said.

Neither of the women knew the victim, whom police have not identified. Aspen said they drove across the city after reading that the site wasn’t being marked.

Zarazun was moved by the tragedy.

“It’s terrible that it happened. And then no one was leaving her anything. So I was like, ‘We have to go leave her a teddy bear or something,’ ” she said.

On the front steps of the house, somebody had left a note saying how the girl would be missed for her laugh and smile.

“You will get your justice,” it read.

A resident on the block who didn’t want to be identified was shaken by the girl’s death.

“She was a baby. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t get to experience life and she never will,” he said.

While police have not elaborated on what led to the girl’s death, the neighbour said the girl was attending a party at the house that night and she was shot and killed.

Zarazun said she knew what it was like to be at a party gone wrong.

“I remember being her age and going to some (neighbourhood) parties and being just in the wrong crowd and it’s not going to end up good. And it didn’t end up good,” she said.