Updated: 14 minutes ago Published: 16 minutes ago

About 100 people gathered on the Delaney Park Strip on Friday to show their support to the family and honor the life of 16-year-old Easter Leafa, who was shot and killed by police on Tuesday.

Family members said this week that Leafa came to Alaska from American Samoa earlier this year and turned 16 in June. She was about to begin her penultimate year of high school at Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School.

Leafa is the sixth person shot by police in the past three months. Police said an officer responding to a reported domestic dispute shot her inside an apartment while she was holding a knife. Her death has sparked fear in the community and increased attention to the police department.

(Related coverage: Anchorage mayor and police chief announce reforms as girl becomes more critical and concerned about police shooting)

On Friday afternoon, a crowd gathered under a cloudy sky, bowing their heads in prayer, holding hands and singing while holding flameless candles.

Three pastors spoke and prayed. Lusiana Tuga Hansen, CEO of the Polynesian Association of Alaska, and Antonia Commack, an advocate for missing and murdered Native Americans, also spoke. There was a moment of silence at the end of the vigil.

“We’re not here to indict the administration or the police or anything like that,” Adrienne Richardson, pastor at First Tabernacle Beth El, told the crowd. “We’re here as a unified group of diverse ministers and clergy to pray. Pray for our city, pray for our children going back to school, pray for the families affected by these incidents. This is Anchorage — this is not Chicago, this is not New York, this is not Detroit. This is Anchorage. I don’t know why some of you are here, but I’m staying here because I believe Anchorage is a safe place to live for people of all colors, denominations and cultures.”

Leafa’s family said she moved to Anchorage earlier this year in hopes of a better education.

“Easter, not even here that long, was trying to do something for herself, was trying to go to school, was trying to be a better teenager, but her life was taken from her so quickly,” Hansen said during the vigil.

Samantha Poe said she attended the event to show her support for the Leafa family and the Anchorage community in general.

“I felt like what was done could have been handled differently. I wanted to be here to provide more support and help our community rise up together and change the system,” she said.

Several events are planned this weekend in response to Leafa’s death. The Party for Socialism and Liberation Anchorage is holding a protest rally outside City Hall at 6 p.m. on Friday. The Alaska Samoan Tribal Council is holding a march at 11 a.m. on Saturday, starting in front of the police headquarters downtown and ending at Town Square Park.