Camden holds a vigil for girl struck down by a stray bullet

Gabby was a singer. At 8 years old, she also was sassy.

"Gabby had an attitude!" one cousin said. But she was also caring, and loved fiercely those she knew.

She loved to ride her bike, to play. And the Camden little girl had just agreed to try cheerleading.

"Gabby was very smart," her mother, Meresa Carter-Phillips, said. "She was an honor-roll student. She loved to read; she loved to write; she loved to sing."

Gabrielle Hill Carter was playing outside Wednesday night on the sidewalk across the street from her house on the 900 block of South Eighth Street in Camden when several men opened fire on another man.

The girl who had earlier been singing Michael Jackson was hit by a stray bullet.

She died Friday night at Cooper University Hospital. She is the youngest person shot and killed in Camden in years.

On Saturday, a city that has held too many vigils once again came together to hold another — to remember, pray, and seek solace and strength in one another.

Family, friends, and community members gathered by the hundreds outside the family's home in Bergen Square, steps from where young Gabby was shot.

"She was fun, loving, outgoing. She had so much character," said Gabby's uncle Darryl Mack. "She was full of life, full of energy."

Gabby's death shook a city that has seen so much gun violence over the years, including an uptick in homicides this year.

She was the 27th person killed in Camden this year, and the third child under 18.

Police said that the shooting, which occurred just before 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, appeared to be gang-related, and that video surveillance footage was taken from the scene.

The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot and killed Gabby was increased to $24,000, according to the Citizens' Crime Commission of the Delaware Valley.

Family members called for anyone with information to step forward, even anonymously, to help find Gabby's killer.

"We know somebody knows something. So we encourage anybody, anybody who could have any information, anybody who has any knowledge," to go to the police, Mack said. "If you think you know, if you hear chatter … we ask that you just report it."

Vigil attendees added to a growing memorial of teddy bears, candles, and balloons outside the family's home.

"In loving memory of our angel," read a large sheet with a drawing of Gabby portrayed as an angel.

"Sunrise: June 4, 2008," it read. "Sunset: August 26, 2016."

"I'm hurting," Carter-Phillips said, her voice cracking. "My baby's gone, and she's not coming back."

But family and friends were there Saturday. And so was Gabby — watching over them, they said.

"I lay down every night knowing that my baby's in a better place, knowing that my baby's watching over us now," said Ja'Lia Goodman, Gabby's 15-year-old cousin.

Goodman recalled for the crowd how Gabby had been at her house that day, asking whether they could play.

"We got in the living room, she turned on the TV, we played Michael Jackson," Goodman said. "She sang her heart out."

Several people said they hoped Gabby's death would serve as a wake-up call.

"We can't point the fingers. We have to look at ourselves and say, 'How will we make a change today?' " said N'Namdee Nelson, who heads the Rising Leaders Global community group and is a friend of the family's.

Another activist, Nyzia Easterling of the Saving Grace Foundation, asked attendees to be more conscious about their parenting decisions.

"Every child here is borrowed," Easterling told the crowd.

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