'The Real' Hosts Honor Tamera Mowry's Niece Killed in Mass Shooting as She Skips Taping to Mourn

Tamera Mowry-Housley's The Real co-hosts honored the life of her late niece on Monday's episode

Tamera Mowry-Housley and Alaina Housley. Photo: Tamera Mowry/Instagram

Tamera Mowry-Housley‘s The Real co-hosts honored the life of her late niece on Monday’s episode.

Loni Love took a moment out of Monday’s episode to pay tribute to Alaina Housley, who lost her life in the California mass shooting last week. (Mowry-Housley, 40, did not appear on the show Monday.)

Love, 47, spoke of Alaina’s legacy and sent Mowry a message of love and support.

“Alaina was only 18 years old,” she said. “She was a freshman at Pepperdine University, the same school that Adam and Tamera attended. She planned to major in English literature and join a vocal music program after being involved in her high school choir. She was also involved in a charity program that donated soccer equipment to young people in the developing world.”

As she read, photos and videos of Tamera with Alaina were shown on the screen.

Tamera Mowry-Housley and Alaina Housley. Tamera Mowry/Instagram

“Alaina’s parents Eric and Hannah and her little brother Alex, they say they want to honor her by focusing on how she lived her life. They say that she would have enjoyed the public debate that is certain to happen after this tragedy and that she would have insisted to be respectful with every eye toward solving these senseless shootings. I also want to give a shoutout to her grandparent’s Art and Julie Housley. Art watches us all the time. Our hearts are really with you.”

Adrienne (Bailon) Houghton also read a message from Mowry’s husband, former Fox News correspondent Adam Housley, on the importance of gun control.

“Before we can even get a consistent national gun policy we have to understand that we as a country and as a society are at crossroads — the hatred, the judgment, the polarizing and the lack of heart,” said Houghton, 35. “We are going to make a change, I can guarantee it. Alaina is with us as we do this.”

At least 12 people were killed after a gunman opened fire and threw smoke grenades in the Southern California bar that was hosting a college night for country music fans. The shooter, a former Marine Corps veteran, also died in the assault, though it is unclear how.

Mowry-Housley and her husband searched for information about their niece on social media before releasing a statement notifying the public about Alaina’s death on Thursday.

Charley Gallay/Getty

“Our hearts are broken. We just learned that our niece Alaina was one of the victims of last night’s shooting at Borderline bar in Thousand Oaks,” the Housleys said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “Alaina was an incredible young woman with so much life ahead of her and we are devastated that her life was cut short in this manner. We thank everyone for your prayers and ask for privacy at this time.”

Housley, 46, also paid tribute to Alaina, who was not only his niece, but also his goddaughter. “My sweet, sweet…Alaina. Oh how I miss you. Oh how I miss u. #heartbroken,” he wrote on Instagram.

“She was an incredible, beautiful girl who didn’t hurt anybody, and was excited to go to Italy for a program overseas. Senseless, man, just senseless,” Housley told Entertainment Tonight on Thursday. “She was a good girl. Really good girl.”

Those slain in the Thousand Oaks shooting include a college freshman, a seasoned law enforcement officer, a recent college graduate and an aspiring Army recruit whom his father called his “best friend.”

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Among the first victims to be identified was Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Helus, a 29-year law enforcement veteran who was getting ready to retire. Police are hailing him a hero for his selfless actions.

Authorities said he was shot multiple times as he entered the bar and later died at the hospital. He leaves behind a wife and an adult son.

“He went into save lives, to save other people,” Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean told reporters. “He was totally committed, he gave his all, and tonight, as I told his wife, he died a hero.”