Tamera Mowry-Housley's Niece Among Dead in Calif. Mass Shooting; Requests Prayers, Privacy
A mass shooting in California Wednesday night left a dozen people dead and several others wounded, and among those killed was the niece of "The Real" host and "Sister, Sister" star Tamera Mowry-Housley.
The shooter entered the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, and opened fire, murdering 12 people before killing himself. Among the victims was Mowry-Housley's 18-year-old niece, Alaina Housley.
After pleading with people on social media for prayers, Mowry-Housley and her husband, former Fox News correspondent Adam Housley, released a statement to USA TODAY confirming that Alaina was one of the people gunned down inside the country music dance bar.
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"Our hearts are broken. We just learned that our niece Alaina was one of the victims of last night's shooting at Borderline bar in Thousand Oaks," the couple's statement read. "Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner. We thank everyone for your prayers and ask for privacy at this time."
Earlier Thursday, the celebrity couple took to Twitter in search for answers as they discovered Alaina was missing.
Mowry-Housley was responding to a tweet by Alaina's suitemate announcing that she was missing. "This is her aunt Tamera Mowry Housley. Can you please DM me your information?," she wrote.
The suitemate responded, confirming that Alaina was among "a handful of girls (who) went to line dance tonight" but was the only one unaccounted for.
My suitemate is still missing, she is wearing denim shorts, a blue flannel and sneakers, pls let me know if you know anything #Borderline pic.twitter.com/t1nUHneChW
— Ashley (@amowreader) November 8, 2018
Adam asked his nearly 100,000 Twitter followers to charge Heaven upon his family's behalf. "Please pray if you believe....pray," he wrote, describing Alaina as "A beautiful soul."
As the day went on, the former news correspondent told the LA Times that he was beginning to believe the worst. The family tracked Alaina's phone and it was still inside the bar.
"My gut is saying she's inside the bar, dead," he added. "I'm hoping I'm wrong."
Mowry-Housley's co-hosts on "The Real" offered the host their condolences on Twitter.
pic.twitter.com/NPtLI848WB — The Real (@TheRealDaytime) November 8, 2018
The suspected shooter, Ian Long, was a 28-year-old Marine Corps veteran. Authorities have not yet determined a motive for the massacre.
