Aaliyah Boyer, 10, Dead From 'Celebratory Gunfire;' Home Burglarized During Vigil

Girl Dies From 'Celebratory Gunfire,' Home Burglarized During Vigil

As the family of a 10-year-old girl killed by a celebratory gunshot on New Year's Eve mourned the loss of their daughter, their home was being burglarized.

Aaliyah Boyer, of Lancaster, Penn., was welcoming 2013 with relatives in Elkton, Md., when, shortly after midnight, she collapsed.

"The next thing I knew they carried her in and she was just limp," her mother, Crystal Blackburn, told ABC2. "I thought maybe she passed out because she did have a little bit of blood... but nothing significant."

The family never heard the gunshots over the sound of fireworks.

"The wound in her head was caused by celebratory gunfire," Michael Holmes, a spokesman for the Cecil County Sheriff's Office, told ABCNews.com.

Investigators believe that party-goers at a nearby residence who fired their guns to ring in the new year pulled the trigger on the shot that took ultimately Aaliyah's life, according to NBC Philadelphia. Aaliyah fought for two days before being taken off life-support late Thursday morning.

On Thursday, as Boyer's family held vigil at the hospital, they learned that their home had been broken into and burglarized of Christmas presents, Blackburn told WPVI-TV. The burglarized home was not the residence of Aaliyah, who lived with her grandmother.

In the face of tragedy, Aaliyah's loved ones are carrying out an extraordinary act of kindness. The family agreed to donate Aaliyah's heart to a 3-year-old in need of a transplant at the same hospital, according to LancasterOnline. The family also donated some of Aaliyah's other vital organs.

"I pray for those kids that they make it, that they live long happy lives with Aaliyah's gift," Blackburn said.

Before You Go

"Young L.A. Girl Slain; Body Slashed in Two" ― L.A.'s Daily News

10 Major Crimes That Shocked the Nation (SLIDESHOW)

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