BURLINGTON, N.C. — People rallied around a Burlington family dealing with the unthinkable.
The Air Cavs Sports Club held a vigil in honor of one of their football players on Monday.
7-year-old Mason Jenkins died over the weekend after a shooting last week.
The Air Cavs did the team chant before releasing balloons in honor of Mason. Sev'Ann Broughton had a close bond with his teammate Mason.
"Mason was my friend," Broughton said. "I loved him like a little brother."
Number 50 on the Air Cavs football team will hold a special place in the league's heart.
"Mason, he was a really good player and he was actually one of the people who made me smile," said teammate Zaylen Frye.
The Air Cavs Sports Club took a knee outside Broadview Middle School in Burlington to pay respect to a teammate they took wins and losses with on the field with for three years.
"I've been his team mom since he was four," said Ebony Brooks. "He was a funny kid silly always playing."
Mason was playing outside his home at Beaumont Court Apartments Thursday when Burlington police said a neighborhood argument having nothing to do with the child led to a shot being fired.
Mason was hit and died at the hospital three days later.
"He did nothing wrong but here we are tonight honoring him because of senseless acts, gun violence," said Olympia Parker a long-time Burlington resident. "This is the community I grew up in. To see where it was when I was his age to now I wept, It hurts."
Mason's mother Ashley Welch was overwhelmed by the love the Air Cavs showed her as she processes what no mother wants to experience.
"It feels good to have the support here. I know Mason would really like this," Welch shared. "I know he's looking down smiling. It's crazy we don't know how to think how to feel how to wrap our head around this lots of crying and anger."
Monday Burlington police arrested and charged 24-year-old Syquan Mason-Rhames for Mason's death.
Welch said it's a great step in the case but feels more justice is needed for her 7-year-old son who had his whole life ahead of him.