Shooting victim enjoyed football friends
March 25th, 2008, 7:35 pm Hobby Shops
Twenty-two-year-old Nick Hairston was a fun, polite former football player whose death came as a shock, a relative and his former principal said Monday.
Hairston died Saturday after being shot around noon in the parking lot of the Roses-Food Lion shopping center on Commonwealth Boulevard.
Jennifer Martin, Hairston’s aunt, said she heard about the shooting while paying her cell phone bill just a mile or so away on Commonwealth.
“Some lady came†into the cell phone store and told customers that “somebody got shot†in the Roses parking lot, Martin said.
When Martin drove with her daughter to the area of the shooting, she learned the victim was her nephew.
“I had to hold up,†when she learned Hairston had been shot, she said.
Hairston, of Jefferson Street in Martinsville, died from what police believe was a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Martin recalled that her nephew was not a “troublesome boy. He was an ordinary teen like anybody else.â€
He played football while attending Martinsville High School, according to Martin and Tom Fitzgibbons, MHS principal.
“Nick was always very super polite,†Fitzgibbons recalled Monday. “He was mature for his age. … Nick was just a super kid.â€
Hairston graduated in 2004. At the time of his death, he was working two jobs: full time at Nationwide Homes and part time at the Movie Gallery, Martin said.
With that kind of work schedule, Hairston did not have much time to devote to hobbies, and the free time he did have was devoted to friends, his aunt said.
“He really liked to hang out with his friends. He was fun,†and there was lots of laughter whenever Hairston was around, Martin said. “I could go on and on†about Hairston, she added. “Everybody loved him.â€
Martin did not know if Hairston knew the man charged in connection with his death.
Justin Matthew Shrader, 20, of 422 Sherwood Circle, Ridgeway, is being held with no bond following his arrest on charges of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the incident, police said Sunday.
A 16-year-old who was apprehended following the shooting is being held in the W.W. Moore Detention Center in Danville on an unrelated outstanding detention order, according to a news release from the Henry County Sheriff’s Office.
Police have said an argument preceded the shooting, but they have declined to comment on a possible motive or other details. Two handguns were recovered after the incident, one in the parking lot near where Hairston fell and another in nearby woods close to where police apprehended the two suspects, Sheriff Lane Perry has said.
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