He was one of my best friends growing up.

He was an honestly brilliant, hilarious, creative, and caring man who was extremely active and involved with his family, and was an inspiration to me in many regards.

I am beyond shocked by the senselessness of all of this...

I'll likely be up there soon for services, but if there's anything any of you locals can do to assist his family, or help bring these senseless bastards to justice, I'd greatly appreciate it.

RIP J, I'm really going to miss you bro.

Fuck.

edit: Here is an updated article, with more background on my friend Justin, and details of what happened yesterday.
I am literally sickened by this, and although I know it won't do a damn thing to change what has happened, I really really really hope they find the stupid selfish asshole who took my friend away from me, took a husband away from his loving wife, and a father away from the two small children he was so amazing with.

edit2: A friend summed this up much better than I ever could:

[from Charles]

---

An Open Letter to the Coward that Shot Justin Ferrari

As I delve through the online comments that politicize the events of May 24th, I can’t help but focus on the most basic of facts: you carelessly shot at people you were arguing with in an attempt to settle your differences, and in the process, cut short the life of an innocent man known as a model father, husband, colleague, and friend. Instead of owning up to this senseless act, you and your gang fled the scene, leaving his children to seek shelter in a nearby restaurant, and his father to cradle his head while he died.

You are a coward in every sense of the word.

You are not tough. You do not intimidate your community. You do not represent other people who look like you, and you do nothing more than evoke disdain and disgust for the so-called person you are.

You have encumbered his wife, children, and friends with an irrevocable loss, and changed our lives in ways that you cannot possibly comprehend. You have robbed us all from sharing common experiences we had a right to expect, and stripped us of a presence you could never even imagine emulating.

I have to wonder what was so important that you would even think to discharge a weapon in midday, at an active intersection, at anyone – much less with a disregard for the potential consequences of such foolishness. Your heedless choice leaves us in a state of grief and question.

I choose not to hunt you like the animal you act like. I choose not to hate you, because that does not bring Justin back or offer closure. However, I will not give a first thought towards offering you amnesty, or plead for your rehabilitation, as your life means nothing to me. When others call for your head, I will not speak up against that bloodlust. You owe society more than you could ever possibly repay it.

You should know about the person whose life you so casually extinguished. Justin was an individual of utmost integrity and energy. He appreciated the tiniest of graces, and did his best to see that his friends and family felt in kind. He was well spoken and intelligent, and he was an optimist for his future and those he cared for. He brought up his children to love the world, and free themselves of the burdens of fear and hate. The irony of a stray bullet ending his life is not lost on those who knew him best.

I ask myself how Justin would want us to respond to this tragic course, and all I can think is that he would expect us to carry on with a compassion and dignity that flies in the face of your irresponsible neglect. Even at the price of his own life, he would hope for the community to come together and find a way to end the very violence that represented his end.

Overcoming your cowardice may very well be the beginning of that notion.