BELMONT, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A large group of family and friends came together Friday evening to remember a recent high school graduate killed in Uptown Charlotte last weekend.
Colby Smith, 18, was shot early Saturday morning near the Spectrum Center.
“I’m still in shock,” said Logan Bentley, one of Smith’s friends. “I’m still processing. Right now, he’s in a better place. I wish he was here with us, but he’s always watching above us.”
Everyone who gathered at South Point High School in Belmont released balloons into the sky following a short prayer.
Gabriel Lee, 27, was also killed in the shooting.
After the balloon release, the grieving parents of both men met and talked.
Smith’s friends say he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Colby was truly like a ray of energy and hope and happiness,” said Elias Pulliam, a friend. “Everywhere he went, people were happy, every classroom he went to.”
Liam Dukes, another friend, says Smith helped every person at the memorial in some way during his life.
Smith graduated this spring from South Point. He liked to cook and play sports.
Luke Wesolowski will always remember a particular backyard football game from when they were kids.
“I tried to tackle Colby, and I just couldn’t get him and he gave me this scar right here [on my knee],” Wesolowski said. “I’ll have that forever; I’ll never forget it. That’s from Colby.”
No arrests have been made in the shooting.
“Text your friends or your loved ones because you never know,” said Alfonso Gea, one of Smith’s friends. “Today or tomorrow, they might be gone and you’re going to regret it.”
If you have any information on the shooting, please call Charlotte Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600 or submit an anonymous tip to the P3 Tips app by phone.
There’s a reward for any information that leads to an arrest.
