Family & friends remember Summer Moody

BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WALA) - Terri Lewis said her daughter Summer Moody had a bright future from the time she could walk to her senior year in high school.

She said the star athlete had recently graduated from Baldwin County High and was thinking about a career in cosmetology.

Monday, Lewis had to do the unthinkable and bury her daughter at only 17-years-old.

A friend of the family, who spoke on Lewis' behalf, said it has not been an easy process.

Lewis recently received Summer’s senior pictures and prom information.

“She’s, you know, she's managing the best that a mother that lost her daughter could,” said Alex Powell. “They're being stronger people than what most would [be].”

Lewis wrote to FOX10 News about the tragedy.

In her letter she said:

“I just wanted everyone to remember she was a bright, beautiful child that is gone way too soon because a lot of people made some really bad decisions on April 15, 2012. She will never go to her senior prom. She will never get married and she will never have children. She will never achieve any of the milestones that I as her mother hoped for... all of this because of the events of April 15. I would like for something positive to come from this.”

Summer Moody died more than a week after she was shot in the hea d on Gravine Island April 15.

“What we have here is a horrible, terrible, tragic accidental shooting,” District Attorney Hallie Dixon said.

Dixon said Moody was on the island with three other teens who are accused of burglary.

Investigators said campers confronted the group and fired warning shots, one of which hit the teen.

Lewis told FOX10 she doesn't know all the details but has no hard feelings toward the teens.

Instead, she hopes her story will encourage people to think about the decisions they make who they affect.

“All she had to do was look at you, and it would make you smile,” said Powell. “She brought that brightness to your life and now she's resting in the arms of Jesus.”

The Moody family attorney said he will meet with family members this week and expects to hold a press conference to respond to the district attorney’s decision not to charge the gunman.