The evening vigil for Treyvon Mays began at 7:30 p.m. at Lakeview Estates Lake in Shawnee, Kan.

The Mays family and close friends stood on the lone dock reaching out onto the lake.

Nearly 200 friends, family, and students, past and present, gathered to remember senior Treyvon Mays. Many had donned purple attire to celebrate Mays’ love for the K-State Wildcats, and had written May’s football number, 9, in black Sharpie on the backs of their hands and over their hearts. Balloons bobbed above the crowd; their ribbons clutched securely.  

Water lapped quietly against the dam as senior Raian Hajmahmoud stepped forward to speak to the crowd.

“God chooses the people he takes and I guess it was his time,” Hajmahmoud said.

Senior Michael Chavez spoke next. In the silence that followed, everyone began to sob.

Purple, white and black balloons were released, rising quickly and drifting northwest. Mays’ mother stood wrapped in the arms of the family pastor.

The flicker of candles danced across the faces of the crowd as a line formed at the end of the dock.

Policemen ushered four people at a time towards a temporary memorial of flowers and candles that rested against the black aluminum railing of the platform.