Under a sea of pink balloons, dozens came together outside of the Tree of Life Funeral Home in Fort Worth Friday night.
While trying to speak to a crowd gathered to remember her daughters, 4-year-old Ivy Pierce and 15-month-old Wynter Thouston, Chardae Mills broke down in tears.
She struggled to find the words to express everything taken from her the night her girls were killed.
“My house is so quiet now,” said Mills.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
On the Fourth of July, the family said they had gone to the Crystal Clean Car Wash on Cleburne Road to watch fireworks when a fight escalated into gunfire that hit and killed both girls and another man.
Six people total were shot during the incident.
Police charged 26-year-old Kanard Trent Murphy with capital murder.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
It’s just the latest act of senseless violence to rock this community.
“We have to understand that these moments are not normal. Like this mother should not be living through this. This father should not be living through this,” said Pastor Rodney McIntosh. “Parents are not supposed to bury their children. Man, we have to get back to a place where this cannot continue to happen in our community.”
The family, who called the girls Wynter Harlem and Ivy Joy, said the sisters brought nothing but smiles to those around them.
As they released balloons to Heaven Friday, that’s how they chose to remember two sisters gone far too soon.
The funeral and burial are on Saturday at Mount Calvary Family Life Center in Tyler.
