A Colorado family is mourning the loss of 14-year-old Aaliyah Salazar after she was shot while filming a TikTok dance video in her grandfather's home in early August.
Police say two of Salazar's friends, also minors, were handling a firearm while she was filming TikTok videos. Police say one of the friends fired the weapon, striking Salazar in the head and killing her.
Both minors have been charged with felony manslaughter and misdemeanor possession of a weapon.
The owner of the firearm, 21-year-old Emiliano Vargas, has also been charged with providing or permitting a juvenile to possess a gun. Vargas was not in the home at the time of the shooting.
Police say they were able to recover a video Salazar had recorded moments before the shooting, according to WCNC. The video showed Salazar dancing while another person in the background was "fiddling with something."
Salazar's family and friends gathered to remember the teen earlier this week, with some criticizing how law enforcement was handling the investigation.
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"She could go into a store and come out with 20 new friends," her grandfather, Gary Salazar, told WCNC. "She was just that type of person. She loved people and people loved her."
"The frustration I’ve got is that if you take a life, you should have to pay for it dearly, not with a slap on the hand and say don’t do it again," Gary Salazar said.
The maximum sentence for the two other minors is six years according to Colorado's youth jail system.
