JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Six year-old Nay'Loni Fairley was a dance student at Shanequa's Dazzling Dolls Dance Company and owner Shanequa Minnis says she dazzled.
"Her energy will honestly never be matched," Minnis told First Coast News.
Minnis first met Nay'Loni two years ago and was impressed by her dedication and determination from the start.
"She was always ready to go," Minnis said. "She was always ready to do anything I put her way. Anything challenging, it wouldn't scare her."
Minnis told her other students about Nay'Loni's death over the weekend and says they all struggled with the unexpected loss.
"I did not expect the reactions I got out of telling them," Minnis remembered. "But it was very, very hard to tell other kids. These are children. It's always hard to tell a child another child is gone."
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is investigating Nay'Loni's shooting death, but the Florida Department of Children and Families says she died from, "an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound...while she was playing with the mother's weapon" at her northside home.
Police have not said if charges will be filed.
Meanwhile, Minnis is focused on making sure Nay'Loni is remembered not for how she died, but how she lived.
"You are going to know who that little girl was," Minnis said. "She will forever be a dazzling doll."