Colby Tevis spent the last hours of his life celebrating his sister’s birthday with a night out in downtown Sacramento.
The night ended in horror. Tevis’ twin sister and another friend held the 22-year-old’s face at J and 24th Streets as he took his last breaths. Tevis was the innocent victim of a shooting, cousin Pamela Tevis-Hunt said Monday during a vigil organized by the family at Burberry Community Park in the Natomas Park neighborhood.
Another man, who identified himself to the crowd as Jeremiah, showed up at the vigil on crutches and said we were injured in the shooting. He wished he had died instead of Tevis.
Tevis was the first of five people killed in a series of five shootings in the city of Sacramento over the weekend. Another shooting Saturday in the Meadowview neighborhood left a 12-year-old boy, identified as Santino Contreras, dead. Three other people were hit and survived.
Sacramento police have not yet announced any arrests or a motive in the death of Colby Tevis.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg, in a statement on social media, called for collaboration between the city, county and school districts to “address violence head-on.”
“The senseless violence this weekend, which left five of our fellow citizens dead and three others injured, is completely unacceptable,” Steinberg said in the statement.
Dozens of family and friends attended a vigil Monday night to mourn and remember Tevis. He had an infectious grin, family members said. He rarely showed a bad temper.
“He was a lover,” Hunt-Tevis said. “He wasn’t a fighter, he wasn’t a troublemaker.”
Tevis’ name, spelled out in candles on a basketball court, glimmered as darkness fell over the gathering. Attendees recalled how Tevis was a role model to those around him while attending both Inderkum High School and San Jose State University. He was entering his senior year of college, majoring in education, communications and media studies, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“I couldn’t sleep,” said his sister Sidney Tevis, explaining that she had watched her “little brother” die.
Chima Uwazie, 21, was Tevis Colby’s college roommate and he said their friendship grew to the point where they felt like brothers. They were inseparable. Uwazie said Colby Tevis was intense and challenged him. Still, he loved his friend because he pushed him to be his best self.
After everyone had spoken, there was a vigil where the relatives could quietly reflect and cry, while remembering their loved one who had gone far too soon.
“This is the hardest thing of my entire life,” said mother Shelly Tevis. “My heart is 100 percent broken.”
