CHAPEL HILL — The tragedy of the killings last week at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut touched the Triangle in the death of a niece of a legal assistant assigned to the Chapel Hill Police Department.

Matthew Sullivan’s niece, Catherine Violet Hubbard, 6, was among the 20 children slain by a gunman along with six adults in the incident on Dec. 14, the department said in a statement.

The girl loved animals, and police said officers and civilian employees will send a donation in her memory to the Newtown Animal Center, which is what her parents, Matthew and Jennifer Hubbard, requested, according to her obituary.

A wake for Catherine was scheduled Wednesday evening at St. Rose of Lima Church in the small town in northwestern Connecticut and a funeral Thursday morning.

In an email to town employees, Town Manager Roger Stancil said Sullivan went to Connecticut as soon as he learned that his niece was among the children killed.

“It is during times like these that we are reminded of the importance of faith, friendship, and love. Matt and his family will need our continued support long after he returns from Connecticut,” Stancil wrote.

“We send our love and support to Matt and his family,” said Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. “We hope this family and the entire community of Newtown finds peace and comfort in time.”

Funerals for the victims in Newtown began to be held Monday.

Connecticut State Police are continuing their investigation into the killings, which they said were carried out by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who entered the school carrying three guns, shot people in two classrooms and then killed himself.

Lanza also had killed his mother at the home where they lived in Newtown, police said.