KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dozens of community members gathered Tuesday evening for a candle vigil to honor an Independence family of four killed in an apartment fire last week.
The two-alarm fire happened at the Independence Ridge Apartments early last Wednesday.
Katelyn McShann; Aaliyah McShann, 3; Bella Edwards, 8; and DeVante McShann tragically died in the incident.
Fire officials said the fire started at a different apartment unit where a resident left food cooking unattended on a stove.
For the loved ones of the family, the vigil on Tuesday was to honor and remember who they were as people.
"Just the spirit and joy they had for one another and for all of us; we were one big happy family, and this definitely takes a piece of our heart out," Mikayla Zielinski, the sister of Katelyn McShann, said.
Lolita McShann, the older sister of DeVante McShann, spoke on the loving person he was.
"A great person," she said. "He was raised to be protector, and he was a protector of his family and friends and everyone until the very end. I mean that sincerely that he protected his family in the end like he was raised to."
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