Staten Island Community Remembers Golden Gloves Boxer Grashino Yancy Killed In Weekend Shooting
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - As gun violence rages on in New York City, every death creates an immeasurable loss.
One of the victims on Sunday was a Golden Gloves boxer on Staten Island.
CBS2's Christina Fan reported Grashino Yancy, 32, was determined to keep kids out of trouble.
Yancy was beloved in the community.
You'll find tributes and memorials in front of the places he would frequent.
At Park Hills Boxing Club, where Yancy started off as a boxer and became a mentor, his coach Gary Stark is in deep grief.
"I'm still feeling it right now. I feel like one of my kids, I just lost one of my sons," said Stark.
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Yancy was shot and killed during a packed neighborhood barbecue on Park Hill Avenue near Palma Drive on Sunday morning.
Police sources told CBS2 Yancy was involved in a verbal argument with a man who pulled out a gun and fired three shots, hitting Yancy in the upper right leg.
"He showed a lot of love, compassion. He was always there for you, there for his friends," said Viola Jeffrey, a longtime friend. "His smile lit up a room."
Friends said Yancy showed everyone kindness, even those who were not always deserving.
He was a talented athlete, who competed twice in Golden Gloves.
After turning pro, Yancy spent hours back at the gym he once trained at, motivating other kids to find meaning in their lives.
Yancy recently moved to Minnesota for a construction job, and was back in Staten Island over the weekend for a friend's funeral.
"He was just full of life," said Jeffrey. "He wasn't supposed to die. He definitely wasn't supposed to die like this."
Yancy was one of eight people killed in New York City on Sunday.
The startling number is why Coach Stark, whose used to be a correctional officer at Rikers Island, said it's crucial to have more resources dedicated to the city's youth.
"I was around these kids and I watched these kids from the neighborhoods, and they would do bad things, but they weren't bad kids," he said.
Yancy's death is empowering Stark to fight on through his program - protecting the kids whom Yancy worked so hard to inspire.