Thousand Oaks shooting victim, Alaina Housley, escorted home to Napa with a procession through town
NAPA, Calif. (KGO) -- Alaina Housley, a teenager from Napa, was one of 12 people shot and killed Wednesday in a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks. On Sunday, the young woman's body was brought home to a procession through town.
With fires raging north and south, dozens of firefighters stayed back in Napa and raised the flag, into a smoke-filled sky, for Alaina Housley.
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The 18-year-old's body was escorted, by family friends at the Napa Police and Sheriffs Departments, from Southern California to her hometown of Napa, where hundreds of friends and admirers lined the streets to pay their respects to a life taken too young and too soon.
"Knowing the way that she passed away to me is really hard," said Bailey Stone, who was close friends with Housley.
She says they made a pact to go to prom together, when they didn't have dates and shared a picture of them dressed up in gowns.
Housley was shot and killed Wednesday night, when a gunman opened fired at the Borderline Bar & Grill, where Housley was line dancing with friends from nearby Pepperdine University, where she was a freshman.
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"It was such a terrible way to end her life this early," said Stone.
As the procession neared Tulocay Cemetery, the crowd clapped for Housley, a Vintage High honor student, athlete and friend to all.
"She was a wonderful girl. She always had a smile and was just the best kind of kid you would want around," said Jeanine Galles, who is a friend of the Housley Family.
Friends were also talking about what steps to take to ensure a mass shooting doesn't happen again.
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"There needs to be new laws or things put in place," said 16-year-old, Erin Shey, who added, "to make sure that people who had guns shouldn't have them if they're not mentally stable." Shey says that on Monday, she's helping to organize a march at Napa's Memorial Stadium about gun violence and prevention.
Gunnar De Young, who was a longtime friend of Housley and her family said, "I think just showing compassion, love, empathy for other people is what we need to focus on doing. I don't know that there's any sort of legislation that we can impose, further than what we have, that'll solve the issue."
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