ORLANDO, Fla. — Spectrum News 13 is learning more about the victims of Wednesday’s string of deadly shootings as loved ones open up to speak about them.

Bishop Kelvin Cobaris, a family friend who grew up with T’Yonna Major’s mother, describes the nine-year-old as sassy and funny.

“She was a bright little girl, she was strong,” he said. “She had her future ahead of her, and even as a third grader, she knew what she wanted out of life.”

Cobaris said Major wanted to help homeless people when she grew up.

“She wanted to help people,” he said. 

Natacha Augustin, 38, and Spectrum News 13 multimedia journalist Dylan Lyons, 24, were also killed in separate shootings Wednesday. 

Major’s mother, whose name has not been released, and News 13 photographer Jesse Walden were also shot. Both are recovering from their injuries.

Cobaris said he sat with Major’s parents at the funeral home Monday.

“It was difficult for all of us in that room to accept what we were there to talk about, and the arrangements that we were there to make," he said.

Cobaris said in recent years, he’s buried more people from gun violence than from injury or sickness — adding that the majority of those deaths were people under age 30.

He said he wants justice for the family and for the community “to strategize, to plan, to be proactive” to come up with concrete ways to help prevent violent crimes in the future.