KITCHENER -- Family and friends of Kitchener's latest homicide victim gathered at a Toronto church on Tuesday night to remember 19-year-old Yafiet Rezene.
The man was shot dead at a house party in Kitchener early Sunday morning.
He's being remembered as a role model at his church, who knew how to speak several languages, including Tigrinya, the official language of Eritrea.
"He could be with kids or with grown people, he's very sweet and he's a very good guy," his uncle, Tedros Afeworki, told CTV on Tuesday.
"We was loved by everybody, he's a loved person," another relative remembered.
Rezene taught young children Bible studies and how to speak English and was given the nickname "The Father of Tigrinya."
The teen grew up in a tight-knit community and recently moved to Waterloo Region for school.
"We are right now in shock," his aunt told CTV.
"Still we don't know what happened, so it's really hard to believe."
Rezene graduated from Monsignor Fraser and also studied at St. Michael's College in Toronto.
He moved to Kitchener with his mom earlier this year to study at Wilfrid Laurier University.
His relatives say he was an only child.
"The grieving, it's unbelievable. She cannot take it," Afeworki says.
Waterloo Regional police say that two other people were shot but not seriously injured. They've since been released from hospital.
Police are asking anyone with information to come forward to help bring closure to Rezene's family.
