A 37-year-old man lost his life Wednesday night while saving children from gunfire that erupted during a vigil in St. Paul, his family said Thursday.

Synika George James did so by pushing kids out of the way of danger, his sisters said of what others attending the memorial told them.

“This was a grown … man that had nothing to do with this stuff,” said Clarrisa James, one of Synika James’ sisters. “This is about kids being disrespectful and not having value for anyone’s life.”

On Oct. 14, 2012, Naressa “NuNu” Turner, 20, was fatally shot in the same Dayton’s Bluff alley. Joseph Haywood Campbell was convicted in the gang-related murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Turner’s mother said she hosted a vigil for Naressa on her murder’s first anniversary and planned for this year’s to be the last. “I wanted to let her rest in peace,” said Odessa Turner.

“I just can’t believe this happened at my daughter’s vigil,” Turner said Thursday. “I blame myself for what happened. We were not out there longer than 15 minutes, and they came and shot the place up.”

Turner said a vehicle pulled up and someone started firing. She did not believe that James, a longtime family friend, was the target. “They were just shooting at everybody,” she said.

Before James headed to the vigil, he got his 6-year-old nephew off the school bus — his family says he was always helping them with all kinds of things. Then, he went with his two older sisters to Naressa Turner’s vigil in the alley at Cypress Street and Reaney Avenue.

The three siblings have known Odessa Turner since they were teens and wanted to support their friend, Clarrisa James said.

Dozens of people attended the 6 p.m. vigil, Turner said. Chelsie James described it as peaceful, with many children present.

Suddenly, the sisters said, they heard a barrage of gunshots. Someone had jumped out of a vehicle and fired, Chelsie James said. One 911 caller heard up to 12 shots and another reported hearing 10, according to emergency radio traffic posted by MN Police Clips. Police reported finding two kinds of shell casings at the scene, according to the audio.

“It could have been any of us shot with all the people there,” Chelsie James said.

Among the people attending the vigil was Naressa Turner’s daughter, now 6. “She was hysterical,” said Odessa Turner, who is raising her granddaughter.

Later, the girl saw a picture of her mother and Synika James on Facebook and asked, “Did Uncle Synika die?” Odessa Turner said. When she told her granddaughter he had, “she just put her head down and started crying,” Turner said.

Police said they received reports of shots fired shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday, found a large crowd in the alley, and learned a man was being driven to the hospital in a private vehicle.

Clarrisa James said her friend drove her brother and she went with them in the vehicle — they were trying to get him help and they stopped when they saw an ambulance leaving the fire station on Payne Avenue, off East Seventh Street.

“I think he was probably already gone,” Clarrisa James said, adding that her brother had been shot in the chest.

No arrests have been made in the case.

“Investigators are still working hard to figure out what happened,” Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman, said Thursday.

Odessa Turner said she thinks the shooting during Wednesday’s vigil “was some type of retaliation, something about my daughter.”

At Campbell’s murder trial in 2013, the prosecutor told the jury that Naressa Turner had been worried before she was killed. She was afraid she would be targeted for retaliation because members of the East Side Boys gang believed she was involved in the February 2012 slaying of Dominic Neeley. But Turner had denied involvement in Neeley’s death.

Odessa Turner said she would do anything to see the violence stop. She planned to announce at the vigil that she intends to start an organization in memory of her daughter and other relatives who have been killed, aiming to feed the homeless and raise college tuition money for children who lost their parents. But the gunfire came before Turner could make the announcement.

“We’ve been grieving for our daughter for three years and all of this has been senseless, and now Synika is gone,” Turner said. She did not see her friend shot, but said she was also told that he “grabbed so many kids” out of harm’s way.

James was a father of six children, ranging from 7 to 20 years old. He spent his early years in South Bend, Ind., and moved with his family to St. Paul as a child. He had a knack for making people laugh, and enjoyed cooking and going fishing, his family said.

Since James was killed, a steady stream of people have gone to Diana James’ St. Paul home, where her son also lived.

“People keep saying to Diana, ‘You don’t know me, but I want to give you a hug,’ ” said family friend Jill Schuster of Synika James’ friends showing their support.

Others have been calling to ask if Synika James was really shot, said Chelsie James. “They don’t believe it because everyone loved him,” she said. “He had a huge heart.”

James turned 37 on Saturday and had been especially proud that he celebrated without drinking, his sisters said. He had been sober for seven or eight months, something he regarded as a big turning point in his life, they said.

Now, James’ family hopes for justice for Synika. They ask anyone with information to come forward to police.

Police have asked for the same, saying tips can be directed to the homicide unit at 651-266-5650.

“We’re asking for people to call us, now that things have calmed down, and share the information they know so we can get a grasp on what happened out there,” Ernster said.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.