’He was a lover’: Man shot during birthday celebration in Sacramento’s midtown, family says

Colby Tevis spent the final hours of his life celebrating his sister's birthday with a night out in Sacramento's midtown.

The night ended in horror. Tevis' twin sister and another friend clutched the 22-year-old's face at J and 24th streets as he took his last breath. Tevis was the innocent victim of a shooting, cousin Pamela Tevis-Hunt said Monday at a vigil held in Natomas Park neighborhood's Burberry Community Park organized by the family.

Another man, who identified himself as Jeremiah to the crowd, appeared at the vigil on crutches and said we was injured during the shooting. He wished he had died instead of Tevis.

Tevis was the first of five people to die in a series of five shootings in the city of Sacramento over the weekend . Another Saturday shooting in the Meadowview neighborhood claimed the life of a 12-year-old boy, identified as Santino Contreras . Three other people were struck and survived.

The Sacramento Police Department have yet to announce arrests or a motive related to Colby Tevis' death.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg, in a statement posted to social media, called on the a collaboration between the city, county and school districts to "tackle violence head-on."

"This weekend's senseless violence that claimed the lives of five of our fellow citizens and left three others injured is completely unacceptable," Steinberg said in the statement.

Dozens of family and friends attended the Monday night vigil to grief and remember Tevis. He had an infectious grin, family members said. He rarely showed a 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 on the gathering. Attendees recalled how Tevis set an example for those around him, while both at Inderkum High School and San Jose State University. He was entering his last year in college, majoring in education, communication and media studies, according to his LinkedIn profile.

"I haven't been able to sleep," his sister Sidney Tevis said. She explained that she had watch her "baby brother" die.

Chima Uwazie, 21, was Tevis Colby's roomate at college and he said their friendship grew to the point where they felt like brothers. They were inseparable. Uwazie said Colby Tevis was intense and would challenge him. Still, he loved his friend for pushing him to be his best self.

After everyone spoke, the vigil allowed time for family members to sit in quiet reflection and cry as they remembered their loved one gone too soon.

"This is the hardest thing of my entire life," said mother Shelly Tevis. "My heart is 100% broken."