Andre Lowe’s family hasn’t been able to hold a funeral because the coroner has yet to release his body, but Friday night, they came together for a candlelight vigil near the nightclub where he was gunned down last weekend.
It was a chance to remember, grieve and to call for change.
"We’ve got to change our mindset as people,” said Jeremy Lowe, the victim’s relative. “We can't keep feeling like a gun is the answer to everything.”
Candles lined the sidewalk where the 19 year old was shot and killed about 2 a.m. Sunday as he and his friends were leaving the Empire Nightclub on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. A fight erupted and gun shots rang out, police said.
"Now somebody's dead and someone else is going to jail,” Jeremy Lowe said. “That's two lives lost. For what? For what?"
Others agreed.
“It's time we stood together as a stronger unit and say enough is enough,” said youth pastor Audie Diggs.
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Lowe's family and friends remembered him as a young man who was looking forward to his first job as a security guard.
“He was working with his dad but he did get his guard card,” said grandmother Mary Lowe. “So many dreams and ambitions.”
Mary Lowe said she's grateful for the arrest of Robert Earl Thomas III, 22, but she also feels for his mother.
The suspect, Robert Earl Thomas, is awaiting extradition from Las Vegas, where he was arrested on Wednesday.
