Family mourns 'senseless, unnecessary' death of Trezevant senior

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - 18-year-old Trezevant High School senior, Ryan Gilliam, was shot and killed Saturday.

As police search for the suspects responsible for his death, his family is grieving.

Family members said Gilliam's murder was senseless and unnecessary. They said Ryan planned on going to college and wanted to be an engineer.

Saturday, he was gunned down in the Pershing Park apartment complex. His family said he was walking into his sister's apartment when three burglars came out, shot Ryan, and ran off.

"There has to be a moment where we say enough is enough and I want to do something different," one community member said.

For Gilliam's family, they are struggling to understand why their loved one is gone.

"It hurts; it really does," Ryan's aunt Rajeeni Gilliam said. "We have never had a death where they were taken to a senseless crime in the streets, so it hurts."

Ryan's sister said the only items the burglars stole were a pair of shoes and a video game.

"He ain't never make it out the car," Gilliam's sister said.

She said as Gilliam got out of the car to go into the apartment, three burglars ran out of the apartment. They then shot and killed Gilliam.

Friends and family remembered the student they said was on his way to college and had ambitions of being an engineer.

"For his life to be taken like that so short--it hurts, it really does," said one family member.

Ryan was the brother, nephew and child who they said was nothing but loving and too young to have his light dimmed so early.

"The joy, the smile, the look in his eyes, beautiful," his family said.

The family has set up a GoFundMe page. If you want to help, click here.

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