An 18-year-old Filipina American is among the 12 dead in the shooting in a bar in Thousand Oaks near Los Angeles, reports ABS-CBN.
Alaina Hosley, seen here in a Facebook photo, graduated last year from Vintage High School in Napa and was a first year student at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles.
She is the niece of Tamera Mowry-Housley and her husband, former Fox News Correspondent correspondent Adam Housley.
“Our hearts are broken,” the couple said to CNN Philippines. “We just learned that our niece Alaina was one of the victims of last night’s shooting at Borderline bar in Thousand Oaks. Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner. We thank everyone for your prayers and ask for privacy at this time.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines also released a statement, according to ABS-CBN.
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“The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Alaina Punzalan Housley,” the statement read.
“The Consulate General is checking with authorities if there are other members of the 25,879 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in Ventura Country who are among the dead or injured in the incident,”
In Napa where Alaina graduated from high school last year, students on her former campus were visibly upset.
ABC7 News released a statement from Alaina’s parents.
“Words can’t describe our grief over losing our daughter, Alaina. She was everything we could hope for in a child: kind, smart, beautiful and respectful.
She continued the family’s tradition of attending Pepperdine University. She was so happy to be a Wave. We are grateful to the Pepperdine community for their support during this difficult time.
We want to honor Alaina by focusing on how she lived her life. She would have enjoyed the public debate that is certain to happen after this tragedy. But she would have insisted that it be respectful with an eye toward solving these senseless shootings.
We send our condolences to the family and friends of the other victims. We especially thank Sgt. Ron Helus’ family for their sacrifice.”
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