Sister of man gunned down in North Raleigh calls for justice
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Flowers, candles, balloons and teddy bears mark the spot where Casty St. Louis took some of his final breaths Friday night.
"He never bothered nobody," said St. Louis's sister, Marche Jones. "He wasn't perfect by long, but he did not deserve to be killed the way he got killed."
St. Louis, 20, was gunned down near his girlfriend's apartment on Shadowland Crossing. Someone opened fire on the young man just before 7 p.m. near the River Birch apartment complex playground. In broad daylight residents, including children, witnessed and ran from the shooting.
A young lady who tried to resuscitate St. Louis said he was calm in his final moments, and identified his shooter. Eyewitnesses said the male shooter was in the car with another young man, and a young female behind the wheel.
Raleigh police are still investigating the murder, and no arrests have been made.
At the time of his death, St. Louis had been out of the Wake County Detention Center for less than two hours. He'd spent three weeks there for drug-related convictions from last month. Family members said he'd gone to River Birch to take a shower and get ready to visit his mother and grandmother, who had moved him to North Carolina from Florida several years ago for a better life.
Just last year, St. Louis was a standout running back for Raleigh's Word of God Christian Academy. Prior to that, he'd been a star player at Wake Forest-Rolesville High School.
"He was the best damn running back a high school football team could ask for," said his former teammate and best friend, Pete Gramz. "He had a positive attitude and was very motivational. He was not a thug or a gang member. He was just a talented kid that had so much potential."
"He was a football player, going to Word of God (Christian Academy), and I ask myself 'What happened? What happened to Casty?" said Diana Powell, CEO of Justice Serve of North Carolina. "Was it fear? Was it the struggle or what pulled him into this kind of reality, this kind of situation?"
Powell learned of St. Louis through incarcerated youth she helps under her non-profit. She's been helping his family cope with the loss.
"When I got the call last night my heart dropped again because I'm always saying the hearse wheels will roll again," she said. "When is it going to stop? We cannot continually watch our youth die this way."
Family, friends, and neighbors attended a candlelight vigil Saturday evening in the North Raleigh apartment complex. Online, former teammates and coaches flooded social media and prep sports forums with Rest in Peace messages for St. Louis.
"He didn't get a chance to do anything in his life that he wanted to do," said Jones. "Nothing he had dreams about."
Jones said her younger brother wanted to play college football, but even with scholarships, the money just wasn't there.
"His life was football and his family," she said, noting he would often mentor neighborhood youth.
As investigators reach out to the public through Crimestoppers, the family is reaching out for help to bury St. Louis. Next Friday night at 10 p.m., they'll have a fundraiser at Flashbacks on Capital Blvd. in Raleigh.
In the meantime, no one can make sense of St. Louis's death, as witnesses said the shooters made it clear the bullet was meant to send a message to someone other than St. Louis.
"Whoever it is, we just want justice served," said Jones. "I just want justice served."
