High school basketball star shot multiple times at North Las Vegas weekend house party

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - A Spring Valley High School basketball star is recovering from getting shot multiple times after a shooting at a North Las Vegas house party.

High school senior Aaliyah Gayles, a five-star recruit and ranked number eight in the nation by ESPN, was one of four people shot at a house party Saturday evening.

Through Facebook, her father said his daughter was shot 10 times. On Sunday evening he said she underwent two surgeries, and went through an additional one on Monday.

Gayles committed to the University of Southern California to continue her playing career.

FOX5 spoke with Gayles’ parents in an exclusive interview.

“She don’t go to house parties, whatsoever, and she went to this house party and got shot,” said Malkia Lockett, her mother.

Her parents were home Saturday night when they got the phone call that no parent wants to hear.

“That’s the worst call you can get,” said Lockett.

Her father said she was shot on each of her arms and legs.

“She don’t deserve what she’s going through in there right now,” said Lockett.

Gayles is widely known in the basketball community for being a rising star.

“Literally every game she plays, she does something amazing,” said Neal Carter, founder of sports media company Ball Dawgs. “We have like a running joke in our team-- in our inner team-- like who are the top 5 players to watch and she’s one of them every single time.”

WNBA star Dearica Hamby of the Las Vegas Aces knew of the rising basketball star from Spring Valley High School.

“Vegas is a tight basketball community so she’s like family,” said Hamby in an interview with FOX5 Monday.

Hamby is among the Las Vegas Aces players who are now donating hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket to Gayles’ recovery, on her Gofundme page. A Gofundme has been created to assist the family during this time of rehabilitation.

“A tragic situation,” said Hamby. “I’d been hearing a lot about her lately. We have the same trainer and we spoke about her in the past... I think the Vegas community’s just thankful that she’s alive. We’re gonna send our prayers and our thoughts, and we donated financially but obviously you know we’re here in any way we can support.”

Police said the shooting started after an argument at the house party near Simmons Street and Lone Mountain Road.

We asked Gayles’ parents if they had any indication that this was a targeted attack.

“Not sure,” said Lockett. “I mean, I have a nurse that asked me do I think it was targeted due to the fact that she was hit in both arms and both legs. Nothing here, nothing nowhere else, which is a blessing because that probably would’ve been more of a deadly situation. But somebody took out her limbs-- like somebody hit her in all of her extremities. So, that’s a question you know? They know who she is, she’s been on TV for the last month or two.”

Meantime, the Aces said they’re rooting for her recovery, despite whether she’ll be able to play competitively again.

“Yeah it’s unfortunate, but life is bigger than basketball, so hopefully she continues to stay strong and continues to hold her head high,” said Hamby.

Marq Mosley, vice president of Ball Dawgs, said he has known Gayles for the past four years.

“I was saddened about it because she’s such a great person and always had good energy and it’s like why would someone want to do that to her? Or anybody in the world?,” Mosley said.

Mosley describes her as wonderful, energetic, and one-of-a-kind.

“She’s a phenomenal player like you don’t see many players like her out- come out of Vegas,” Mosley said.

Off the court, Gayles is described as a good person.

“Off the court she’s loving, always laughing, joking, always high spirited,” Mosley said.

He sends his love to the family.

“We love you all. We all family out here, big basketball community,” Mosley said.

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