RIKAYA RISING: Pizza Luce shooting victim's father works to create change

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - A Minnesota father and DJ held a fundraiser for his daughter on Sunday to help raise awareness after she was the innocent victim of a shooting last month.

Rikaya Jordan was struck by a bullet outside the downtown location of Pizza Luce. She was planning to get a slice of pizza with friends and family at bar close when someone opened fire.

The bullet is still lodged in her spine, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Ricky Wafford, locally known as DJ Labari, gathered his fellow DJ’s to raise money for his daughter’s medical expenses.

Because of her condition, Jordan was unable to leave the rehabilitation center, where she is undergoing treatment for her paralysis, for Sunday's event. Her goal is to walk again, and Wafford is doing all he can to help make that happen.

Though the focus of the night was on Jordan and her recovery, the overriding theme was “stop the violence.”

“There’s anger on top of disbelief that the city still lets this go on late at night,” said Wafford.

The crowd at the fundraiser was frustrated to learn that three more people were injured, one critically, in a shooting in Uptown over the weekend.

“It’s just crazy that someone can go around and just shoot at random crowds and not care about whose life they are changing,” said Jordan.

Police have been unable to identify the gunman in her case, but are certain she was not the intended target.

“It was just wrong place, wrong time,” said Jordan. “Angry? Yeah. It’s not fair. It just sucks.”

At Sunday’s fundraiser, the hashtag #RikayaRising became a banner for her recovery, but also for the violent acts that continue on city streets.

“No one is doing what the city needs done to keep this violence down,” said Wafford. “So anger? Yeah, there’s anger. But where to point it?”