The seven-year-old girl found dead in a Langley condo on Sunday is being remembered as a “little firecracker with a big heart.”
Aaliyah Rosa’s former pre-school teacher Trish Wright is speaking out about the young girl she says touched everyone in her life.
“For all the years that I was with her, she would run to me and hug me,” said a tearful Wright.
“She would do it with all the girls that worked there.”
Wright spent many hours with Aaliyah, first as her pre-school teacher and more recently as her before and after-school caregiver.
She said while Aaliyah was small, it was paired with an out sized tendency to care for others.
“She was the girl that when parents came to pick up their children, she would hug them goodbye,” Wright said.
“She would say hi to everybody. If someone was by themselves, she would make sure they weren’t lonely.”
She said when snack time came, if someone didn’t have anything to eat, Aaliyah would make the rounds of the other children and collect food to share with them.
WATCH: Police investigating death of child at Langley condo complex
Wright also said Aaliyah had a special relationship with her father.
“It’s just hard, she was daddy’s little girl, 100 per cent,” Wright said.
“He would pick her up and she would run to him with arms wide open and, you know, the big hug and the big smile.”
Wright and several other childcare givers have started a crowdfunding campaign to support Aaliyah’s family. By Thursday evening it had raised more than $6,000.
Police have released few details about Aaliyah’s death, which took place in a condo complex at 20053 68 Ave.
Investigators have confirmed they are treating it as a homicide.
While no arrests have been made, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said police “have a firm understanding of what happened and we don’t believe that the public is in any danger.”
Police have also said that a 36-year-old woman who “was involved in the investigation” is under medical care. Neighbours have told Global News they saw a middle aged woman being taken from the condo complex on a stretcher on Sunday.
Police are looking to speak with anyone who may have seen Aaliyah in the Langley area on Sunday, July 22.