'She loved everyone': Family mourns girl, 6, killed by father's golf shot
The family of a little girl who was killed after her dad accidentally hit her with a golf ball have remembered her as a loving, playful child.
Aria Hill, 6, was hit in the back of the head with a golf ball on Monday morning while she was at Sleepy Ridge Golf Course in Utah with her dad Kellen and uncle Brayden.
David Smith, one of her other uncles, said Aria was a happy child who greeted strangers and enjoyed spending time with her parents.
He added she went golfing with her father often and that it was one of their favourite activities to do together.
Mr Smith told KUTV his niece’s death was “a complete, fluke accident”.
“You couldn't repeat it if you tried," Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith said Aria loved to do what the family called "big girl things" with her mother Talysa like dressing up, experimenting with make-up, and helping take care of her two younger brothers.
"She loved everyone so freely and effortlessly, the best way she knew how," he said.
On a GoFundMe page for Aria’s family, Mr Hill wrote his niece “brought contagious joy and light to every room or place she entered”.
“She had a smile that let you know she was probably up to something - and that something was surely going to bring a smile to your face, a laugh to your soul, or tears of joy to your eyes,” he wrote.
Aria’s mum Talysa posted a collage of her on Facebook. One of the pictures featured Aria wearing her mum’s wedding dress.
“What a beautiful, perfect, little angel,” one woman wrote.
‘Unimaginable’
Steven Marett, the head golf professional at the course, told the Deseret News that he has seen people occasionally get hit by balls but he had never heard of guests getting seriously injured or killed.
"This is absolutely unimaginable, and it's been devastating," Mr Marett said.
Aria's family has planned her funeral services for July 20.
Orem Police Department Lieutenant Trent Colledge said no charges will be placed over Aria’s death because it appears to have been a tragic accident.
With The Associated Press
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