Mourners hold candlelight for shooting victim

SMITHFIELD, Va. – Mourners gathered outside the Dollar General Friday to honor the memory of 18-year-old Dakota Gordon.

The candlelight vigil started at 7:30 p.m. Attendees, including Gordon’s mother Maranda McKinney, released balloons into the sky at 8:12 p.m. – the time that Gordon was shot during an attempted robbery.

“He was only 18 years old. He didn’t deserve this,” McKinney said tearfully. “And now we don’t get to see him grow up; we don’t get to see the man that he would become because somebody else took that away from us.”

Gordon was with his friend, 19-year-old Gavin St. Clair, in the store’s parking lot on December 29 when someone tried to rob them. Gordon was shot in the stomach and was rushed to Riverside Hospital for emergency surgery for his wounds.

He died due to complications from the surgery on December 31.

Last week, the Smithfield Police Department charged four people in connection to the shooting.

Related: 

Four charged in Smithfield armed robbery that resulted in 18-year-old man’s death 

Victim dies after being shot in Smithfield attempted armed robbery 

Man shot during armed robbery in Smithfield