Sandy Hook shooting victim’s mother releases tribute video

Singer Harry Connick Jr. has written a song in memory of six-year-old Ana Grace Marquez-Greene who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, last December. (File image)

The mother of a little girl killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting who lived in Winnipeg released a video to mark the anniversary of her daughter’s death.

The video was published YouTube on Dec. 6 by Sandy Hook Promise, a group of parents pledging to work together to prevent gun violence.

In the video, Nelba Marquez-Greene, mother of six-year-old Ana, talks about how her daughter “was a child who sang before she spoke, and danced before she walked.” She also spoke about how music was central to their family life.

Ana’s father, Jimmy Greene, is a jazz saxophonist who taught at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Music. He plans to release a tribute album dedicated his daughter, called "Beautiful Life."

Ana was one of 20 children killed when a gunman opened fire in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012. Six staff members and the gunman also died in the attack.