LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — When a smile was needed, Kayla Harris was the antidote.
Those in the Vegas Valley may remember her for her talent on the Spring Valley High School basketball court. In Colorado, those skills catapulted the Adams State University Grizzlies to success.
Mario Caetano was her coach for two and a half seasons with the Grizzlies.
“Especially in our league, she was one of the very few players that could play or guard one through five,” Caetano said in Skye Canyon Park Thursday morning. “As good as she was as a player, she was a better person.”
The 24-year-old’s laughter and comedic demeanor still ring in his and other Grizzlies’ ears. When they need a laugh of their own now, they look to years-worth of videos of her humorously dancing to make others happy.
These videos demonstrated her attractive essence that Caetano says captured the hearts of all she met, including his eight-year-old son.
“I would just be like, ‘why is he up at two in the morning? Who’s he talking to?’ And I walk into his room and he’s playing Fortnight with Kayla at two I the morning. I hear Kayla on the mic. I’m like, ‘what are you- Kayla, go to bed. You got class,’” Caetano said, smiling while recounting the memory. “She was not just a player. She meant a lot. She was a part of my family.”
Despite her time in Colorado, she called Nevada home. That was visible by the makeshift vigil family and friends made for her outside the Craig Ranch Villas in North Las Vegas Wednesday night.
Harris died two night earlier on June 24. Her mother – still grieving and unable to be interviewed on camera – told 8 News Now Thursday that her ex-boyfriend murdered her daughter.
North Las Vegas Police identified the shooter as 47-year-old Eric Adams, who also killed four other people and injured a teenager that same night across two different apartments. Harris and her 22-year-old girlfriend, Jennette Faria-Webster, were found dead in her mother’s unit where they were spending the summer.
Police add that Adams then took Harris’ mom as hostage at gunpoint. She eventually escaped hours later and alerted police. When officers found him Tuesday morning, he turned the gun he was carrying on himself.
“There’s always a lot of, ‘why?’ Like, why? A lot of questions that are going to remain unanswered,” Caetano said. “I mean, she was holding my little girl on Saturday, watching my son play. Now, she ain’t here.”
Harris may be gone, but those who knew her refuse to let her legacy end. Her university posted a memorial on their website Wednesday.
As for Caetano and other friends and family, instead of dwelling on the circumstances of her passing, they continue to look at those videos that even now provoke a smile.
“She has something to bring the shyness out of people. She gets everyone to laugh,” Caetano said. “She was well known. She was a fan favorite. So, I mean, we’ll move forward, but you’re going to feel this sort of emptiness, for sure.”
Harris’ mom created this GoFundMe to help with a proper home going service in the coming weeks.
Police identified the other victims as 40-year-old Amy Damian and 59-year-old Damiana Moreno. As of Thursday afternoon, they have yet to identify the fifth victim. The surviving 13-year-old girl shot remains in critical condition at the hospital.
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