‘We’re tired of the violence’: Friends remember shooting victim as he is laid to rest

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Funeral services were held for Shawn Grady, 50, in Wilmington on Saturday.

Grady died at New Hanover Regional Medical Center after being shot on Montgomery Avenue in Wilmington on Monday.

Grady’s friend, Brandon Hickman, says he feels a mixture of emotions as his friend is laid to rest.

“Today is a feeling of sadness and hurt,” Hickman said. “On the other hand, you’re very proud of who Shawn is, we call him Ski. We’re very proud of who he is, how far he’s come and what he’s done to give back to the community.”

Hickman says Grady, or Skidog as his friends called him, loved his city.

He says the two of them held a water drive after a hurricane and Grady held a back-to-school drive every year, where he collected shoes for students.

“He felt like if they felt good about themselves for the school year, then they could start with a positive mindset,” Hickman said.

Hickman says anytime you needed Grady, he picked the phone up and immediately asked, “whatcha need?”

“There was no ‘Hello’, there was no ‘Hold on let me think about it’,” he said. “It was all ‘Whatcha need? All right, I’m on there.'”

He says his friends and family hope to keep Grady’s love for the community alive by continuing his back-to-school drive and helping the community any way they can.

After what happened to Grady, Hickman describes the community as “tired.”

“We’re tired of the violence, we’re tired of the gun play. What’s going to happen is folks are going to start showing you that they’re tired by coming together to unite, to make sure that we don’t have random acts like this anymore,” he said. “We just buried someone the week before to gun violence and now we’re burying Shawn this week. There’s some things that are going to be done in our community that’s going to help us.”

Hickman says he hopes measures are taken to prevent things like this from happening.

“That is going middle school, elementary, kindergarten, head start and saying ‘hey, this is how you do conflict resolution,'” he said.

He says it’s important to know that disagreements can be discussed.

“We can agree to disagree, and we can go about our ways,” Hickman said. “We don’t have to resort to gun violence.”

Hickman says he hopes his friend is remembered as an amazing person, amazing citizen of Wilmington, and someone who loved his city.

This case is still under investigation. If you have any information, call the Wilmington Police Department at (910) 343-3609 or use tip708.com for anonymous methods.