Vigil held to celebrate the life of star football player killed in Gwinnett parking lot

JACKSON COUNTY, Ga. — Tonight, friends and family gathered to remember a young football star killed last week.

Elijah Dewitt, 18, was shot in a mall parking lot in Gwinnett County on Wednesday.

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Tonight, he was remembered at a vigil, as an inspiration to those around him.

“This is exactly what he would want. This is exactly how he would want it to go. He would want everyone to come together,” his girlfriend Bailey Reidling said.

Reidling told me this scene would have brought a smile to Dewitt’s face.

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On Sunday night, dozens of Dewitt’s friends and family gathered outside his home in Jefferson, Georgia, to remember the young football star.

“I just want everybody to know that he was very kind and gentle at heart, gentle guy off the field, a fierce competitor on it,” Reidling said.

Dewitt’s girlfriend and sister told Channel 2′s Justin Wilfon that he inspired them.

“He’s just going to be in the back of my brain, saying keep going, you’ve got this, it’s what he would want,” Delaney Dewitt said.

The 18-year-old was shot and killed in the parking lot of Sugarloaf Mills Mall on Wednesday.

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Two Gwinnett County teenagers, 19-year-old Chandler Richardson and 18-year-old and Kemare Bryan, were arrested in South Carolina days after the shooting. They are now facing murder charges.

Dewitt’s mother told us on Friday that she does not believe her son knew his alleged killers.

Now, as his family and friends prepare for his funeral, they want everyone to know about the inspiring young man they lost.

“When you got to know him very well, you found something out. and it’s kind of like you’re opening a present. You don’t know how good it is until you see what’s inside,” Reidling said.

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