COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Columbus Police continue to look for suspects after a shooting on the city’s east side over the weekend.

Tyquan Lackey, 18, died from his injuries, while two others were shot.

“My heart just fell out,” Valerie Lackey, Tyquan’s mother said. “I didn’t believe it was true, cause I don’t know why nobody would want to shoot him.”

Lackey said the two other boys who were shot were close friends with her son. The boys are both 17 years old, according to a police report.

Police said the shooting happened on Maryland Ave. According to police and witnesses, the incident began as a birthday party, which was reportedly attended by some gang members. Callers to 911 reported seeing a large crowd of people outside fighting and hearing gunshots.

Valerie Lackey said she found out her son had been shot by people posting on Facebook. By the time she learned about it, Tyquan was already dead.

“I don’t understand,” Valerie Lackey said. “We’re killing each other for what? For what? It has to stop somewhere. And I want it to stop with my son, cause I don’t want to have another mother go through this pain that I’m going through.”

Lackey said her son was not in a gang and was not affiliated with gangs.

“I hate that they have to say it’s gang-related, because every incident that has to deal with black people doesn’t have to be gang-related,” Lackey said. “It can be a stupid kid out there doing a stupid thing, and this was very senseless, for my child to be dead right now.”

Tyquan was a senior at the Academy for Urban Scholars on E. Broad Street. His mother said he enjoyed working with his hands, especially electrical work.

“He was gonna be somebody,” Lackey said.

She urged Tyquan’s friends to avoid revenge because it wouldn’t bring her son back. She said she wants the person responsible to be found.

“But I want everybody to also rejoice and be glad that we had this wonderful boy in our lives, and he made us smile each and every day we saw him,” Lackey said.

A neighbor who did not want to be identified said she called 911 the night of the shooting.

“I don’t know what we can do, but we have to try to do something,” she said of the violence. “We can’t let them keep on like this.”

The day after the shooting, she said a man showed up with his young son, telling her he wanted to show the boy what could happen to him. She offered some advice.

“I said, ‘Honey, stay in school. Get your education, get a skill. Come out of these streets, cause there ain’t nothing but one or two places you’re going. You’re going to your grave or you’re going to jail. And once you take a life, you’ve already taken your own,'” she said.

A vigil is planned for Tyquan at 6:30pm Monday at Maryland Park on Atcheson Street.