PHOENIX — A woman is dead and a boy is hurt after a shooting Sunday morning in west Phoenix.
Phoenix police say they were called to an area near 35th Avenue and McDowell Road around 2 a.m. for a shots fired call.
When officers arrived, they found a woman who had been shot. Police also saw a large group of people running and driving off from a large house party.
Twenty-one-year-old Amanda Franco was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Family and friends gathered at a news conference on Thursday, pleading with the community to come forward and help police solve this shooting and find who may have killed Amanda and injured another person.
“We are so heartbroken and so devastated that she was taken from us,” Yolanda Armenta pleaded emotionally. Armenta is Amanda’s aunt.
Amanda had just started working at Camelback Academy Charter School, the same place she grew up in for nine years. She started at the school right after her 21st birthday, becoming a nursing assistant, according to the school principal.
Amanda’s mom said she had always wanted to help people.
“She would always care for the students, and they just loved her right away when they visited her in the nurse’s office,” Irma Sebreros said of her daughter.
According to police, multiple homes and vehicles were struck by gunfire.
A juvenile boy was brought to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. No other injuries were reported.
Police say the "shooting began from an altercation that occurred from a large house party where it erupted outside, in front of the home. Multiple individuals exchanged gunfire, resulting in over 300 shell casings found throughout the area."
No arrests have been made, according to police. Anyone with information is asked to call Phoenix police or Silent Witness.
Those who captured video footage are also asked to submit evidence of the incident through the Phoenix Police Department's online portal.
The shooting remains under investigation.
Amanda's family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral costs.
