Mom weeps for her ‘funny, feisty, silly’ fallen little angel

The words, like her tears, poured from the mom of an 11-year-old Bronx murder victim in a torrent of heartache.

“She was everything,” Yahisha Gomez told the Daily News about her daughter Kyhara Tay, slain Monday afternoon by a stray bullet fired in a botched drive-by.

“She was funny, attitude, feisty, silly, careful,” the devastated mother continued. “Like she was very careful with everything. Respectful. She watched over her baby sister. She was a protector.”

The victim’s father, Sokpini Tay, was equally effusive Tuesday about his oldest child. He said he’d already started planning her 12th birthday, which wasn’t until December.

“I want people to remember her as a sweet little girl,” Tay, 40, said to the News. “As a sister, a daughter, cousin, niece. A loving girl, that’s all she was. Friendly. Everybody knows her.”

Both parents were still reeling one day after the gunfire killed Kyhara as she ran for the safety of a nearby nail salon before the slaying that stunned the city. Family members returned to the murder scene in silence Tuesday to remember the girl they called “KyKy.”

Tay said he was thinking recently of moving the family out of New York, to a bigger house in Connecticut where Kyhara could enjoy her own bedroom.

“We’ve been here seven years,” he said. “I was trying to get her out of here. I guess I wasn’t working fast enough.”

Both parents called for an arrest in the senseless shooting of their beloved little girl.

“Justice,” said Gomez, 35. “I want them to catch him. I want them to come forward. I want them to be like a man and come forward...They killed a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter.”

Tay was equally forceful about the fugitive gunman.

“I just want him to do his time — 25 years, whatever they’re going to give,” said the distraught dad. “Do it like a man, you know? It happened already. He’s gotta do what he’s got to do now.”

Gomez recalled giving Khyara repeated warnings to stay safe, but none were any help when the fugitive killer, riding on the back of a motor scooter driven by a second man, sprayed the street with gunfire.

“I always tell her to be careful, watch your surroundings,” said Gomez. “She tried to hide between cars. It doesn’t matter how much you tell them to be cautious.”

The dad was now left wondering if all the effort to keep his daughter safe was worth it.

“I feel bad that I tell her no all the time. I should’ve just let her do whatever she wanted to do, you know? Live her life. I didn’t think it was gonna be that short. If I knew I would’ve just let her do whatever she wanted,” he said, choking up.

Adding to the tragedy: Two of Kyhara’s cousins were with her when she was shot, surviving to watch the sad aftermath. The dying girl made it inside the nail salon but could not be saved despite the frantic efforts of two bystanders.

“I’m thinking this is a dream,” said Tay. “Like I’m going to wake up any second. Like this is not her.”