Thirteen-year-old Keyla Salazar loved animals, including her dogs “Lucky” and “Cinnamon,” had a “charismatic personality” that “conquered everyone’s heart,” and had many talents, including “infinite creativity,” her family said Tuesday after her funeral.
Nearly 1,000 people celebrated the life and mourned the loss of Keyla, one of three victims of the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, at a service at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in San Jose.
Well-wishers wrote messages to Keyla on her white casket. And loved ones wore T-shirts with photos of Keyla reading, “Our Hero.” Sobs could be heard from a large crowd that surrounded the family as they loaded Keyla’s casket into a tan hearse.

Keyla was one week shy of her 14th birthday when she was shot and killed while fleeing the shooting with her family. Born in Marin County to father Juan Salazar and mother Lorena Pimentel de Salazar, Keyla lived in San Jose, where she attended ACE Empower Academy, a charter school.