COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two security guards were shot and killed while working early Friday morning at Avalon nightclub in downtown Columbus, leaving two families mourning loved ones.
The victims were identified as 36-year-old Ceilin Smith and 27-year-old Desmond Taylor.
“To see a person who never gave you any problems, who was trying to do his job and to feel that you had to use violent force, it just baffles me,” said Akeem Towns, a childhood friend of Smith.
Towns and Smith grew up together on the south side of Columbus.
“He has always been a protector. Obviously, he worked in security, he was always bouncing at clubs and that is how he made his living. But outside of the club stuff he was just a protector,” Towns said.
Towns said Smith was a devoted father to three children.
“Everybody deserves their father in their life so these kids got that taken away from them and that is gonna affect them for the rest of their lives,” Towns said.
Both Smith and Taylor were passionate about their jobs and took them seriously.
“If I tried to beg him to do another job he wouldn't. That is what he liked to do so he died doing the job he loved,” said Taylor’s mother, Latrice Bradley.
Bradley said her son had his whole life ahead of him and was finding his place through Columbus’ nightlife scene.
“My son didn’t make it out of his 20s, you know, now I have to bury a kid,” she said.
Columbus police issued an arrest warrant for 26-year-old Jaqeuz Hoover in connection to the shooting.
He is charged with both Taylor and Smith’s deaths and remains at large as of Sunday evening.