BATON ROUGE — Three years after Kerisha Johnson was shot and killed while pregnant, her family gathered to mark what would have been her 40th birthday.

Family and friends spent the day writing messages in her memory, honoring her as a mother, daughter, sister and friend.

Her father, Kevin Johnson, said the weight of losing her has not eased.

"Everybody's child is special to them, but Kiki was just that one in a million person," Kevin Johnson said. "Everybody just gravitated to her, and she was just a bright light."

Kerisha had left her home to pick up one of her daughters from a party on North Carrollton Avenue, but never arrived, and phone calls from her daughter and father went unanswered.

Police said she had been shot and killed along with her unborn baby. Neither of them was the intended target.

Five men were arrested in connection with the killing. Torey Campbell, 21, pleaded guilty to firing the shots in February and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Kerisha's sister, Tanisha Johnson, said the sentence was not enough.

"He should have done life. I mean, he ruined lives. He took away two lives, a life that wasn't even ready, didn't even get a chance," Tanisha Johnson said.

Kevin Johnson said the question of justice is complicated.

"People always ask us if it was justice. The justice would have been that this had never happened and that she'd still be with us," he said.

Kerisha leaves behind two teenage daughters.