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'She didn't deserve to be dead' | Family, friends remember 15-year-old shooting victim Janaria Muhammad

Janaria was a dancer, basketball and volleyball player. She was an involved student at Austin-East High School before she was killed Tuesday night.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Janaria Muhammad, 15, is a life gone too soon.

Her older sister C'airra Woodruff held her picture up for all to see at an event hosted by Knoxville leaders Wednesday morning.

"She was beautiful," said Woodruff. "Only 15 years old. She was very active. She didn't sit around, she got active in her community."

Janaria was a dancer, played volleyball and basketball, and was very involved as a freshman at Austin-East High School. Her friends called her "Nana."

"That's my lifetime friend right there and she's supposed to be here forever," said her best friend, Honesty Scott. "She'd help anybody with anything. If you ever asked her, she was coming."

Scott is just one of many people hurting after Junaira's death.

Janaria's kindness was recognized by many including her 9-year-old sister, Aniya Mitchell.

"She was always nice to everybody and it's just sad that I had to lose her yesterday," she said. "She didn't deserve to be dead."

Aniya just wants her sister back.

The mourning family is wasting no time calling for change, and asking that anyone who saw something to come forward and help police solve this crime.

"It could just as easily have been your friend, your sister, your brother, your uncle, mama, anybody, and you will want justice. I want justice," said Woodruff. 

Janaria family hopes her death and life leave an impact.

And Aniyah knows one thing that needs to change.

"That the guns need to be put up," she said.

Mayor Kincannon said Wednesday she will be proposing a $1 million amendment to the city budget to jumpstart community-based violence prevention and interruption programs, saying these programs have proven effective at reducing violence elsewhere in the U.S.

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