Shooting victim recalled as loving mom

Amber Manoa loved throwing parties for her 4-year-old daughter. She would occasionally rent a bounce house, fire up the barbecue and hang out with friends in the backyard of her Elk Grove home.

Manoa, 27, who was shot dead in south Sacramento on Saturday, had a good job, lived in a nice house and stayed out of trouble, her mother, Osa Brock, said Sunday.

She had no criminal convictions in Sacramento County, where she had lived since turning 18, court records show.

"That is why this is just so unbelievable to all of us," Brock said. "We just can't wrap our minds around it."

Manoa was killed around 4:40 a.m. as she sat in a car outside an apartment complex in a high-crime area about 10 miles from her home. The man who was with her – her mom said he was a close friend but authorities have not yet released his name – was shot in the foot before running to a nearby residence for help.

Investigators are still looking for a suspect, described as a 6-foot-3, light-skinned black or Latino male, between 20 and 30 years old, who was wearing a black baseball cap, a charcoal-gray hooded sweat shirt and dark pants. Authorities haven't released a possible motive for the shooting.

Brock adopted Manoa in Hawaii when she was 5 weeks old. They moved to North Sacramento when Manoa was 2. Manoa always liked Sacramento but Brock wasn't crazy about the neighborhood, so she and her kids moved to Los Molinos, near Red Bluff.

"I wanted to get them out of the area and away from all the gangs," Brock recalled Sunday.

But Manoa wasn't happy in Red Bluff and moved back to Sacramento when she turned 18. She started taking classes at Sacramento State, Brock said.

Manoa did not graduate from college but got a job as a supervisor at AAA – the insurance and roadside assistance provider – in Elk Grove, her mom said.

"She was doing really well," Brock said.

Brock isn't sure why her daughter was on Nina Way south of Fruitridge Road that night, nor does she know why someone killed her, though she has heard speculation that it was a robbery gone bad.

"She was very outgoing," Brock said. "She had a very good personality. Everybody loved her."

Manoa's MySpace page is covered with pictures of her and her daughter, C'Kret. Most of Manoa's page is dedicated to her thoughts about finding love.

"I'm talking about a love in which this person is your best friend and you seek to revolve higher, aiding each other, and bringing out the best of one another," Manoa wrote on the page, which she last visited the day of her death. "You just know it's the truth and it's beautiful."

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Phillip Reese, (916) 321-1137.