ARLINGTON -- More than 30 family and friends gathered at an emotional candlelight vigil for 19-year-old Dylan Spaid on Monday night.
The vigil, held along the frontage road on I-20 where his truck came to rest after being shot, was filled with tears and tribute to the young man.
"He was so nice," said Kristina Huggins, Spaid's girlfriend. "He was a kind person, and brave, smart."
Huggins was in the car when Spaid was shot in what police say is a suspected road rage killing.
When Ryan Mentel got the call Sunday night that one of his employer's vehicles had been in a wreck on I-20, he got in his car and went to the scene. But nothing could prepare him for the news he was about to receive.
"It’s just impossible to comprehend this actually just happened," Mentel says. "It was something that could’ve been avoided. There was no need for something so stupid like this to happen."
Mentel is Spaid's brother.
Police say Spaid got into some sort of incident with a black sedan at eastbound I-20 and Cooper around 6 p.m. Sunday.
"Somewhere between Cooper and Matlock, a witness said the black-colored sedan pulled up to the driver’s side of the truck and the passenger window went down," says Lt. Chris Cook of Arlington Police. Cook says it was then that someone in the sedan shot Spaid.
Spaid's girlfriend told WFAA she was able to guide the vehicle off the road without hitting anyone, and ended up crashing the truck into an NTB sign near Matlock.
"There’s no words to justify what they did, there’s no reason for it," Mentel says.
Spaid's family is devastated. They say he was a hard worker and put others before himself. They also say he was an organ donor.
Their message to anyone with information on this crime?
"Give them up. Give them up because when something like this happens, it’s bound to happen again. Someone’s out there that has a disregard for human life," Mentel says.
Police believe the person who shot Spaid was in a black BMW or Mercedes four-door sedan with tinted windows and silver rims. They were last seen driving near Collins and I-20, and there were at least two people in the car.
If you have any information on this road rage homicide, please call Arlington Police.
