DENVER — For three years, people who knew Mya Peña have missed her.
She was just 17 years old when she was killed in 2020 by a young man investigators said had mental health concerns.
Mya's family said she was trying to help him.
On the day of her death, her family is encouraging people to do random acts of kindness to honor Mya's giving spirit.
"Be a good person. Kindness is free," said Audra Peña, Mya's mother. "Mya, since she was little, just had a very kind heart. She befriended people that didn’t have friends. She had a heart for the homeless, people that were less fortunate."
Giving through grief brings the Peña family comfort.
"She would want us to do that," said Audra. "Everyday I'm like, just remember she would be so disappointed if you just didn't get up today and try."
For Audra Peña, continuing her daughter's kind spirit is a tradition they hold dear on the day of her death.
"I come here often just to sit with her," said Audra, looking at the mural of her daughter at 21st and Lawrence streets. "She looks over the city and that's kind of what we're proud of is she looks over the city for healing."
That's why they're asking people to do random acts of kindness on the day they lost Mya.
"That's who she was. That's what she embodied. She actually died like that," said Audra. "She wanted to help this young man and he was mentally ill and he ended up taking her life."
"Any kindness that you can give to other people might outweigh the evil that ended up taking Mya," said Emily Raymond, a good friend of Mya's. "Sometimes when I'm just like missing her, I drive down here and just sit in my car and look at how beautiful it is."
Raymond wants people to learn from Mya's example.
"Do it with dignity and grace, like Mya always did," she said.
It's something Mya's sister, Alexis Peña, is always striving to do.
"It's so funny because growing up, she was trying to be like me. I'm the older sister and now I'm like, if she could only see how the tables have turned of me trying to be so much like her," said Alexis. "I think that would make her the happiest."
Now she said instead of thinking about something they lost, they are trying to give back.
"I know that's what she would've wanted," said Alexis. "She wanted us to turn something negative into the positive and so that's why I'm glad we're able to do that."
Mya went to Mile High Academy and the school canceled class on Friday to have an in-service day in remembrance of her.
The Peña family was there too, helping to pack up care kits for people experiencing homelessness.
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