As a room full of people holding white dove balloons and candles watched on, DMV AllSkate Social owner Jacqueline Wiggins broke down.
She urged everyone attending the vigil for 31-year-old security guard Eugene Smith to take care of their mental health. The person who shot and killed Smith while he was off duty picking up his paycheck last month likely didn’t address theirs, Wiggins said.
Over 100 people, many boasting neon green shirts with the nickname “Geno” written on the back, gathered in front of what some in attendance described as the “ultimate place of community gathering.”
Many recalled Smith’s smile and said that in his role as head of security, he kept everyone’s spirits high.
“You have got to feel this as a community,” Wiggins said. “We have got to feel something. It’s not the gun. It’s not the gun, guys — it’s the person behind the gun. Please understand that.”
Standing in front of illuminated letters spelling “Geno,” Alecia Wilson echoed that sentiment. As a friend of Wiggins, she said she doesn’t want to attend another vigil because someone didn’t seek the help that they needed.
“Put the guns down,” Wilson said. “If we all put the guns down, there ain’t nobody here to shoot and kill.”
Prince George’s County police say it’s not yet clear whether Smith was a target of the Feb. 23 shooting, and they’re offering up to $25,000 for any information that helps lead to an arrest in the case.
Proceeds from Thursday night’s sales will be donated to Smith’s family and used for a memorial service. The rink, which one employee said is most popular on Saturday evenings, charged $10 for a shirt, candle and balloon.
Pastors and grief counselors were also in attendance.
“This man meant something to me,” Wiggins said. “This man was my happy space. When I used to be in here stressed out, crying, sleeping in this building, this man would come through and he would give me a hug and he would tell me, ‘You got this.'”
Markea Brown said the shooting was unnerving, because “this isn’t the environment or place for that type of violence to just happen.”
She described Smith as “always smiling, bubbly, (keeping) the spirits high in the building.”
Wilson urged community members to support each other in Smith’s honor.
“Instead of drinking it away, smoking it away, sexing it away and everything else that we do to cope with it … let’s just get some help so that we can help each other,” she said.
