Man Gunned Down, Family Heartbroken

Courtney Graham's family says he was trying to build a better life

For family members of 25-year-old Courtney Graham, it doesn't make any sense why anyone would kill him.

"He wasn't perfect, but he was good and he had a kind heart," said the victim's cousin Cheryl Murrell.  "Anything you needed, if he had it, he would give it."

Family members said Graham was a talented website designer who graduated from the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.

On Monday night, Graham was shot multiple times as he walked along a footpath that connects Champion Street to Bay View Heights Place in Oak Park.

Neighbors said Graham often used the dark path as a short cut between a nearby store and his home in an apartment complex on Bay View Heights Place.

San Diego Police homicide detectives are still trying to determine a motive for the crime.

"We don't understand it, we don't know why this happened," said Murrell.

Family members said Graham was never involved in gangs and as far as they knew, he didn't have any enemies. He was just a young man who was trying to build a better life.

"He just lost his mom from a long ailment and his dad before that, he was coming through a lot of pain and grief but he always looked up," said Graham's cousin Erica Edwards.

His family is hoping whoever is responsible for the shooting is brought to justice.

"I hope they get the people who did this because there is a special place in hell for them," Edwards said.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crimestoppers.

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