PARADIS - "Me and Seth go far back, like as kindergarten. I met him and he was actually my first friend," Kolby Hebert said.
Walking down the street to 15-year-old Seth Vellion's home now brings Kolby Hebert a feeling of sorrow.
"His passing has me in like, in a different state," Hebert said.
A bouquet of flowers sits in the front yard, but a few feet away from where Vellion was shot and killed, allegedly by his own father.
"All I heard, I was just in my room and I just heard sirens just like fly down. Fly down, fly down the street and then, all of the neighbors came out to see what happened and a couple of minutes later we heard that he passed and I literally just broke down into tears," Hebert said.
The shooting happened around 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 22. Deputies went inside the house and found the Hahnville High School freshman on the floor, shot multiple times.
Deputies and EMT's tried reviving him, but it was too late.
Also in the home was his mother, 43-year-old Nicole Veillon, shot multiple times. She was taken the hospital and is now in critical condition.
The Veillons' 9-year-old daughter raced out of the home during the shooting, calling for help. Kyla Thomas lives a few houses down from the Veillons' home.
"When she came out of the driveway. Everybody saw her. She was waving her hands and I guess, trying to get the cops attention," Thomas said.
The tragedy is affecting the entire close-knit neighborhood. The Hebert's are now setting up a fundraising event on May 11 th to help the family. A GoFund Me account has also ben set up to help with medical and funeral expenses. Hebert says it's the least they could do for this childhood friend, one he treated like a brother.
"He was such a good person. And he deserves to be treated with all of the respect and if I did something for him, he would do something for me in return. And I hope he's looking down on us and smiling," Hebert said.
The fundraiser will take place at the Father Mac Community Center, starting at 11:30 a.m. The Center is located at the St. Gertrude Catholic Church in Des Allemands.
Hebert's father, Wade Hebert, says the community, especially his neighborhood, looks out for one another.
"It don't matter if you're black, white, green, yellow, orange, purple. Hispanic, whatever. We're all human beings and in our little area, we have a mixture of families that's in our area. And we all stick together," Wade Hebert said.
For more information on the fundraiser and how you can help, contact Wade and Gaynell Hebert at gaynellhebert@yahoo.com or click here.