GREENSBORO, N.C. — A community is mourning the loss of a Greensboro man.
Candles lit the faces of those young and old grieving the loss of Kalup Maynard.
"I know he'd want everybody to be strong," said Tenia Spencer-Maynard Kalup's sister.
Long live KK glowed in the grassy area outside Windsor Recreation Center in Greensboro where the 26-year-old played baseball as a kid.
Taneia organized the memorial.
"Our bond was unbreakable he was younger than me but he acted like the bigger brother. Any room he stepped in he lit up the room," Taneia said. "He was always a genuine, happy carrying loving person."
The dozens who gathered for the vigil shared those same feelings.
"Ever since I've known Kalup he had a heart of gold," a family friend said.
Taneia and the others who showed up will have to hold those memories tight.
Someone took Kalup's life on Lynhaven Drive Saturday.
Police haven't released much about the shooting.
Kalup's sister has a message for whoever's responsible.
"I hope whoever did this to my brother, pay for what they did," Taneia said. "He did not deserve this."
The family wants Kalup to be remembered as a strong, positive, loving, and successful black man.
"He was a father, a protector, a provider," Taneia said. "Anything he needed to be for anyone he showed up.
He was one of four people killed over the weekend in Triad shootings.
"I hate to say this but I was like well there's a lot of activity in Winston-Salem but thank goodness we're not seeing that here," said Greensboro city councilwoman Sharon Hightower. "But unfortunately, that changed a little bit this weekend."
Hightower said there is no simple solution to ending gun violence.
"There are several underlying reasons that cause violence and we have to get to the root of that," Hightower said. "I don't think you'll ever be able to stop the violence but if we can mitigate some of the issues that are creating it that's going to help."
As another family is forced to learn to live without a loved one, they ask that anyone with hatred in their hearts release it just as they released balloons into the sky in Kalup's memory.
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