Seventeen year-old Alissa King was a point guard who could sink a basket as easily as she could make her family laugh.

King, who played on the Boston Showstoppers, could score as many as 20 points a game, a friend told The Boston Globe.

Her mother, Alana Farrell, said her daughter, with dreams of playing basketball in college, was looking to shine on the court during her junior year of high school.

She was enjoying life.

“She was the life of the party, my little angel,” Farrell told WHDH Sunday. “She was always happy, caring, always trying to help her friends, trying to help each other out.”

Alissa King, 17, was murdered in the street. Police arrested the alleged gunman. King’s aunt is calling on fellow teenagers to do better. #dorchester #wbz pic.twitter.com/efJfhByFj3 — Katie Brace (@KatieBraceWBZ) April 17, 2020


But now King is at the center of a community in mourning, after she was shot and killed on April 15 in a daytime shooting near Topliff and Speedwell streets in Dorchester.

Police have arrested Anthony Kelley, 18, of Dorchester, who faces several charges, including murder.

Kelley was held without bail at an arraignment Thursday, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf, the Globe reports.

Farrell told WHDH Kelley was a former friend of King and had come over for dinner before.

The shooting was the first of two within days that involved young victims.

On Saturday, a 10-year-old girl was wounded from a bullet shot through the wall of a nearby apartment on Roxbury’s Nazing Street. The girl was listed in critical condition that night, but her injuries are believed to be non-life threatening.

Farrell called for an end to the violence, telling WHDH that the community needs to do better.

“We got kids that are getting shot every day,” she said. “It shouldn’t be like this.”

At a candlelight vigil held Thursday, Jessica Lewis, 36, King’s aunt, made a similar call for peace, imploring people to come together and look out for one another, according to the Globe.


Farrell had lost her only child, Lewis said.

“This is a girl that lost her life minding her business, and she shouldn’t have died like this,” Lewis said. “This could be your mother coming to a memorial, crying over your body.”

According to WHDH, Farrell is asking anyone who wants to donate in memory of her daughter to consider making a contribution to the Boston Showstoppers.