DALLAS — Dallas police are trying to track down the killer of a 15-year-old girl.

Juanita Payne of Dallas was gunned down in a shooting after a fight broke out at a birthday party late Saturday night in the 1100 block of East Redbird Lane at Houston School Road.

Police said the fight spilled outside, when gunfire erupted around 11:30 p.m. Witnesses said teenage boys pulled guns out of car trunks and opened fired into the crowd.

"What we heard when we first got outside is, 'We about to get ya'll. We about to get ya'll. We going to do this and do that,' said Meshia Walker, a friend who witnessed the fatal shooting. "And we heard gunshots go everywhere."

The teen was rushed to Methodist Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead.

"She was like a sister to me," Walker said as tears streamed down her face. "She [is] gone."

Walker said Payne, who officers said was just a bystander, was shot while trying to run away.

"I miss my daughter," said Melvin Thomas, Payne's father. "I miss my daughter. I'm telling you I'm being strong, just hanging in there."

A few weeks shy of her 16th birthday, Payne was about to become a sophomore at South Oak Cliff High School. Her family said she was a strong student with dreams of becoming a pediatrician.

"I think she was a beautiful, young person, very outgoing, love to dress [and] love to look pretty," said Joyce Mobley. "I'm going to miss her."

"Good dreams just gone, man," Thomas said.

Police spokesman Lt. Vernon Hale said the fatal shooting remained under investigation Sunday, with no suspects in custody and no motive known, although some witnesses told investigators they believed it could be linked to gang activity.

WFAA-TV's Jonathan Betz contributed to this report